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I led a project that dealt with understanding cell biomechanics under the influence of mechanical vibrations. Studying how bone cells increase their osteoid secretion rate when tweaked with specific frequencies helped me relate mechanical engineering to healing bones. I presented a paper based on my research at the 41st Journal of Vibroengineering conference in Germany in November 2019. The paper demonstrates a continuum model approach to analyze the dynamic characteristics of an active osteoblast cell during the bone remodeling cycle.
During my final project semester, I worked along the line of cell biomechanics but for cancer cells. I learned that cell transformation from normal to cancerous alters biophysical and biomechanical properties and dynamic characteristics. This can induce selective cytotoxicity of tumor cells. Based on past work, there is very little information provided on the modeling techniques used to generate the cellular models and the boundary conditions applied for analysis. Obscurity exists in the variation of natural frequencies of cells obtained by considering or neglecting the mechanical properties of subcellular elements. For my project, I developed two simulation models (homogenous and non-homogenous) of normal and cancerous breast cells (MCF-10A and MCF-7) and used Ansys to investigate cell dynamic characteristics. Material properties of subcellular elements are taken into account in the case of the non-homogenous model whereas the cell is assumed to have uniform material properties throughout for the homogenous model. A comparison of the natural frequencies for the two models of MCF-10A and MCF-7 is reported.
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