Newsletter
of the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering
University of California, San Diego October 2001 Vol. 8, No. 2
Newsletter
of the Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering
University of California, San Diego
October 2001
Vol. 8, No. 2
|
Am. Society of Biomechanics Meeting WIBE Profile: Michael J. Heller WIBE Visiting Scientists/New PhD’s Bioengineering Seminar Schedule |
2001 American
Society of Biomechanics Meeting
This
summer, on August 9-12, the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering
co-sponsored the 2001 American Society of Biomechanics meeting at the UCSD
campus. This meeting is one of the
premier venues for the dissemination and discussion of biomechanical properties
of tissues as well as their clinical relevance.
Almost 300 people participated in the conference. It
was novel to begin the meeting with an excellent “pre-meeting tutorial” on
Musculoskeletal Modeling by Professor Scott Delp of Stanford University.
This tutorial presented the theoretical aspects of muscle mechanics,
joint kinematics and tendon biomechanics in a very graphical manner.
A “pre-meeting laboratory” was also offered to 25 individuals during
which engineers were able to measure the mechanical properties of frog skeletal
muscle. For some of them, this was
the first time they had handled biological tissue in spite of years of modeling
experience. Sameer Shah, a senior
Ph.D. candidate in Bioengineering served as head T.A. for the laboratory and was
assisted by fellow graduate student Jennifer Davis. The
meeting was highlighted by three outstanding keynote addresses from Dr. Jan Fridén
(Göteborg University), Dr. Jim Spudich (Stanford University) and our own Dr.
Geert Schmid-Schöenbein. All three
keynotes presented animated and powerful applications of biomechanics in their
area of interest—Hand Surgery (Fridén), molecular motors (Spudich) and cell
mechanics (Schmid-Schöenbein). In
addition to the keynotes, scientific sessions covered the range of biomechanics
from sport biomechanics (ever wonder how a person could keep their center of
mass below the bar while high jumping over it?) to cell mechanics (did you know
shear stresses can directly and indirectly activate signaling molecules?) and
everything in between. The spirit of scientific congeniality was present on Thursday night as we celebrated at Scripps Birch Aquarium with a Mexican buffet, live music, and a typical La Jolla sunset. Overall, this meeting strengthened the ties within the biomechanical community and showcased UCSD as a place where great science and good will go together. For a detailed look at the abstracts from the meeting, feel free to log onto the ASB website at: http://www.asb-biomech.org. |