A Toolbox To Understand Passive Muscle Mechanics: Experimentally and Computationally

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

2:30 PM-4:00 PM

BIOMED Seminar

Title:
A Toolbox To Understand Passive Muscle Mechanics: Experimentally and Computationally

Speaker:
Ben Binder-Markey, PT, DPT, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP)
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems

Details:
Muscle is a highly adaptable tissue that is often impacted following injury and disease, resulting in significant impairments, limiting rehabilitation outcomes, and functional recovery. Thus, understanding muscle structure-function relationships is essential for optimizing functional outcomes in individuals. Muscle’s active length-tension properties have been widely studied, are well understood, and can be accurately predicted. However, the passive mechanical properties of muscle are not as well understood. But, alterations in the passive mechanical properties can be detrimental to an individual's functional recovery. Furthermore, we don’t understand the sources contributing to these passive mechanics. Within this presentation, I’ll present how we’ve set out to identify the sources contributing to passive muscle mechanics and the toolbox we are developing to help us understand these mechanics.

We are using and developing a combination of experimental and computational modeling methods to explore across scales and species. I’ll present different tools we use to collect data, from human joint mechanics to in-situ intraoperative human muscle properties to ex-vivo animal muscle tissue mechanics, and the interesting insights we have found at each scale. Then, we explore how biomechanical computation modeling can help identify sources of passive muscle mechanics and further our understanding. I’ll also present some of my ongoing work at Drexel University that explores the mechanisms behind passive mechanical muscle changes following muscle injury.

Biosketch:
Benjamin Binder-Markey, PT, DPT, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences with an affiliate position in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Drexel University. Dr. Binder-Markey directs the Multiscale Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory. His work integrates physical therapy, basic science, and engineering principles through experimental and computational modeling. The goal of his work is to understand better muscle’s structural and functional properties and the mechanisms of how these properties change following injury or disease. With these understandings, novel technologies and optimal rehabilitation and therapeutic interventions can be developed to optimize the recovery of these individuals, maximizing their physical function and significantly improving patient care and outcomes.

Dr. Binder-Markey has received funding from the Hartwell Foundation, Coulter Foundation, PA CURE Grants, NIH, Foundation for Physical Therapy Research, American Heart Association, The Brinson Foundation, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Catalyst Fund for this work. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Biologics Lab at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, his DPT training and PhD in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, and his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware.

Contact Information

Lisa Williams
ltw22@drexel.edu