Office Location: ECES 140
Lab Location:䷡126
Associate Professor Sarah Calvewill beginherposition with ֱ Boulder'sDepartment of Mechanical Engineering in January 2020.
Research Interests
Mechanics of soft biological materials, musculoskeletal development and regeneration, extracellular matrix
The primary focus of Associate Professor Sarah Calve'sresearch is to develop techniques to visualizeextracellular matrix (ECM) architecture and quantify the combined effect ofchanges in local stiffness andcyclic loading on the material properties ofsoft tissues in the developing of the musculoskeletal system. Informationgathered from the characterization of the mechanics andcomposition ofassembling tissues will guide the design of more successful regenerativetherapies than those based on the tissues of the homeostatic adult. She and her research group areusing bio-orthogonal labeling based strategies to identify newly synthesizedECM proteins in the developing musculoskeletal system. To determine theorganization of these matrix components, theyare using confocal microscopy andnovel decellularization and clearing protocols to visualize the 3D architectureof the ECM in the developing mouse. In addition, theyestablished anew atomicforce microscopy based method to measure how these changes in compositioninfluence the mechanical properties of cells and ECM in the developing limb.
Societal Impact
The long term goal of my laboratory is to fully characterize the composition, organization andmechanics of the soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system (i.e.muscle, tendon, ligament,cartilage) to guide the design of therapies that can restore functionality todamaged tissues.