BME Seminar Series: PhD. Candidates - Niki Blackstone, and Sam Wordeman

PhD. Candidates - Niki Blackstone, and Sam Wordeman and will present on 4/10/2014.

Sam Wordeman will present "Biomechanical adaptations after neuromuscular training in ACL-reconstructed subjects"

Biomechanical adaptations after neuromuscular training in ACL-reconstructed subjects

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a devastating event with severe short- and long-term consequences for the injured athlete. Risk of second ACL injury is five-to-twenty fold greater than risk of primary injury, with as many as one in four patients suffering a second injury within the first year of return to sport (RTS) or high-level activities even after intense physical rehabilitation. Long-term patient outcomes after second injury are also significantly worse than after primary injury. Approximately 70% of ACL injuries occur through a noncontact mechanism (i.e. without a direct blow to the knee) during cutting, landing, and jumping, and are believed to be preventable. Neuromuscular training (NMT) effectively retrains movement patterns and reduces neuromuscular deficits, decreasing primary ACL injury incidence by 50-70% in randomized controlled trials. However, there are currently no validated NMT protocols for reducing risk of second injury. We have implemented a fee-for-service program that utilizes a previously-proposed training protocol for primary and secondary ACL injury prevention. Changes in strength, functional biomechanics, and patient-reported outcomes in ACL-reconstructed patients after participation in this program will be discussed. The development, approach, and rationale for ongoing finite element simulations designed to clarify the impact of training on tissue-level biomechanics will also be discussed.

Bio: Sam Wordeman is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering (BME) at The Ohio State University, working under Dr. Timothy Hewett, PhD. Sam completed his undergraduate training in BME at Washington University in St. Louis, with an emphasis on coursework in tissue biomechanics theory and experimental biomechanics. Sam began his doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati under Dr. Hewett, and transferred to Ohio State in 2011. Sam has authored or co-authored 9 peer-reviewed publications, and received several local and national honors and awards for his work.

Niki Blackstone will present "Scaffold Modification Strategies to Control Engineered Skin Mechanics"

Scaffold Modification Strategies to Control Engineered Skin Mechanics

The current standard treatment for full thickness burns, split-thickness skin grafts, suffers from many deficiencies and limitations such as donor site morbidity, scarring, lengthy hospital stays and very limited tissue expansion.  Autologous engineered skin (ES) offers promise as an alternative treatment, however, ES is orders of magnitude weaker than normal human skin causing it to be difficult to surgically apply and easily damaged by mechanical shear in the early stages of engraftment.  In order to investigate whether controlling scaffold mechanics could control ES mechanics, coaxial electrospinning was utilized to develop scaffolds with varying mechanical properties, while maintaining fiber surface chemistry.  This presentation will discuss current results of engineering skin with these scaffolds in traditional static culture, in response to mechanical stimulation and after engraftment in a mouse model.