FRACTURE AND FATIGUE OF SKELETAL TISSUES LABORATORY
F² LAB
Our Mission
Our goals are directed toward investigating the mechanisms of deformation, fracture, and the biological responses in biological materials at multiple length scales (from molecular to macroscales). Our work aims at bridging the gap between mechanics of materials, biology, and experimental high-energy x-ray physics to understand skeletal biology and disease as well as design principles behind biomaterials.
As part of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at the University of California San Diego, the Fracture and Fatigue of Skeletal Tissues Laboratory is directed by Dr. Claire Acevedo.
The Fracture and Fatigue of Skeletal Tissues Lab’s research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Advanced Light Source, the University of Utah Center on Aging, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health.
Sponsors
Graduate milestones
Congratulations to Dr. James Rosenberg! He has graduated with his PhD in mechanical engineering from our lab after working with and developing many unique mechanical testing methods at different length scales for bone. His PhD studies focused on using these testing methods to discover the effects of type 2 diabetes and collagen cross-linking on bone and other tissue mechanics. Congrats one again!
Congratulations to Dr. Michael Sieverts for graduating with his PhD in mechanical engineering! Mike spent 4 years working on innovating imaging techniques for both synchrotron radiation micro-CT and confocal laser scanning microscopy images to enhance our understanding of bone fragility diseases. He worked hard at every step, from the sample preparation stage to the machine learning and testing stages. Congrats!
Congratulations to Ihsan Elnunu for defending and graduating with his thesis Masters degree! Ihsan worked hard on locating, extracting, and testing osteon structures in bone. He also investigated the effects of cross-links on the mechanical properties of bone. Congrats!
Published paper in JOM by recent Master's graduate Ihsan Elnunu! This paper highlights the detrimental effects of advanced glycation end-products in one of the most fundamental structure in bone, the osteon. (READ MORE)
New publication was accepted and published by James Rosenberg in PNAS Nexus. In this work, the effect of type 2 diabetes on mouse intervertebral disks is investigated using small-angle x-ray scattering. (READ MORE)
Published paper in JOM by William Woolley was accepted for publication. His work examines the effect of type II diabetes in a rat model, specifically relating deficits in mechanical properties to microstructure. (READ MORE)
Published paper in IEEE – eScience! Mike and Nikita use phase retrieval and neural networks to analyze both bone and adipose tissue using synchrotron micro-CT. (READ MORE)
Publication accepted in Communications Materials – Nature! Authored by Mike and Yoshi, this work highlights the use of deep learning for in situ synchrotron mechanical testing of bone (READ MORE)
Conference presentations
Naomi Chin presented a poster at the Material Science and Engineering Symposium 2024 at UCSD! She presented ongoing innovations using collagen hybridizing peptide, specifically on optimizing staining protocols with temperature variation.
William Woolley presented a poster at the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference 2024 at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin! He presented his current findings on using a collagen hybridizing peptide in bone research.
Yoshihiro Obata presented results from synchrotron micro-CT toughness testing and advancements in synchrotron techniques for in situ bone testing at SES 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota!
Dr. Acevedo was invited to give a talk at the Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting! At ORS, she spoke at a Research Interest Group about bone quality research with other key investigators in the field.
Congrats to James and William for their accepted abstracts at the Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting! They presented their work on the effects of diabetes in bone using novel mechanical testing and synchrotron techniques.
Michael Sieverts presented at IEEE eScience right here in SLC! There, he talked about a technique for analyzing multiple tissues in synchrotron micro-CT images.
Awards in the F2 Lab
Michael Sieverts and Dr. Michael Bridge submitted a confocal image of canaliculi within bone for Nikon’s Small World competition. Their photo was nominated as an Image of Distinction and can be viewed here. Congrats!
Congrats Ihsan for receiving an Honorable Mention for his NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) application. This award is rewarded to extremely meritorious applicants of the fellowship program.
Alice L. Jee Award was awarded to Dr. Acevedo at the 2022 Orthopaedic Research Society Musculoskeletal Biology Workshop. Dr. Acevedo presented the F² Lab’s recent work on the effect of diabetes on bone material properties and microstructure. Congrats!
NIH R21 Grant Awarded to Dr. Acevedo! The National Institutes of Health Exploratory/Developmental R21 grant was awarded to Dr. Acevedo to research the mechanisms of increased fracture risk in diabetic bone at the collagen molecular level. (READ MORE)
NSF CAREER grant awarded to Dr. Acevedo! The National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award is a prestigious 5-year award offering 5 years of funding for early-career faculty. Congrats! (READ MORE)