Abstract
Current prediction, prevention and diagnosis strategies for mild traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, are still largely in their infancy due to a lack of detailed understanding and resolution of how physical forces give rise to tissue injury at a cellular level. In this talk I will present some recent work on our current understanding of the origin of concussions and traumatic brain injuries and how cells in the brain interpret and react to the physical forces of trauma. Specifically, I will show that the path to a better understanding of traumatic injuries involves addressing a variety of finite deformation, rate-dependent soft matter and cell mechanics problems along the way. Finally, I will provide an update on our current understanding of three key mechanisms leading to cell death during a traumatic brain injury, as well as revealing why strain rate is such an important parameter when trying to understand the pathologies of TBI.
About the Speaker
Christian Franck is the Bjorn Borgen Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the acting director of the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the ONR-funded "Physics-based Neutralization of Threats to Human Tissues and Organs" (PANTHER) program, which consists of over 30 PIs nationwide and focuses on advanced detection and prevention of traumatic brain injuries.
His lab has focuses on the development of new experimental techniques to provide unprecedented spatiotemporal access to problems in cellular biomechanics and the mechanics of soft materials.
Host: Professor Callan Luetkemeyer