Welcome to the bMECH Lab

The bioMechanics Experimental and Computational Health Laboratory (bMECH lab) leverages engineering fundamentals and technological advancements for medical impact. Led by Professor Mona Eskandari, Ph.D., our area of expertise centers on the structural and material characterization of the lung at the organ-, tissue-, and micro-scale. We pioneer experimental techniques, such as interfacing our novel breathing mimicry platforms with digital image correlation methods to enable unprecedented quantification capabilities for examining rapid and finite breathing mechanics, and develop predictive computational biophysics-based tools to inaugurate innovative diagnostic techniques for medical intervention. We focus on investigating multiscale pulmonary function through an engineering lens, seeking solutions to scientific questions surrounding lung disease.

Book Feature: Discoveries featured in a Book by New York Times Bestselling scientific author, Mary Roach. Find Prof. Eskandari in Chapter 10: "Heavy Breathing"

Our research was named one of the Major Scientific Breakthroughs

of the University of California 10-Campus System, the only UCR Honoree

Feature Article: INCREDIBLE BREAKTHROUGHS of UC

COVID-19: We are developing novel diagnostics and methods to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic based on the fundamental pulmonary tissue biomechanics research conducted in our lab.

Our Research is Supported by

News

Prof. Eskandari returned to her alma mater, Stanford University, for an invited talk and to share the latest research findings of the bMECH lab.

Congratulations to bMECH! Our research was featured in a new book by New York Times Bestselling Author, Mary Roach "Replaceable You." Prof. Eskandari is quoted and UCR mentioned by name. NPR "From heart to skin to hair, 'Replaceable You' dives into the science of transplant" Exciting to witness the scientific impact of our work

Congratulations to Katie for her manuscript published in Respiratory Research , titled "Human ex-vivo lung mechanics differ under positive- and negative-pressure ventilation." For the first time, the mechanistic differences for ex-vivo donated cadaveric human lungs loaded under both positive- and negative-pressure are analyzed. These rare human lung findings are partly consistent with past animal studies, which reported matched peak pressure-volume behaviors with differing inflation compliances between positive- and negative-pressure ventilation. Differing deflation compliance and end-expiration pressures have not been demonstrated under animal models, highlighting the need for human organ testing.

bMECH is excited to be a part of this international coalition of biomechanics researchers generating consensus around experimental testing techniques of soft tissues. Find the publication in the Journal of Biomechanics "Community challenge towards consensus on characterization of biological tissue: C4Bio’s first findings"

Prof. Eskandari was invited to present bMECH's pioneering methods and recent breakthroughs at Caltech (The California Institute of Technology) Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar Series.

Congratulations Katie on her paper "Indentation mechanics of healthy and fibrotic murine lung reveals homogeneous surface stiffness" published in Elsevier's Results in Engineering (Impact Factor 7.9). Pulmonary fibrosis is a serious disease that heterogeneously stiffens lung tissue and restricts whole organ expansion. To determine if fibrotic stiffening is detectable at the lung surface within the microindentation range, spherical indentation is conducted to directly measure regional surface mechanics of healthy and fibrotic murine samples. This data is valuable for computation models and emerging surgical palpation devices and further indicates that fibrosis will likely not affect the ability of such devices to detect pulmonary tumors.

Prof. Eskandari was invited as a Guest Associate Editor for the Special Issue in Respiratory Mechanics in ASME's Journal of Biomechanical Engineering alongside fellow lung researcher colleagues. Find the editorial publication here!

Continuing the theme of tackling the unknown organs features of our bodies and creating new mechanical techniques to characterize such tissues, bMECH has received a grant from the National Science Foundation in collaboration with Northern Arizona University to study the unknown material mechanics of birth episiotomies. Read more here "Women’s pelvic tissue tears during childbirth unstudied, until now: Grant enables study into mechanical properties of episiotomy cuts"

Congratulations to Drs. Mariano, Nelson, and Quiros! Watch out world, here they come

Prof. Eskandari was invited to Brown University as part of the I-BEAM Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series (Institute for Biology, Engineering, and Medicine) to share the new insights on lung biomechanics.

Congratulations to Talyah on her paper "Interactive effects of pulmonary pathologies and ventilation modes driving heterogeneous and anisotropic regional strain mechanics" in Scientific Reports. Deformation heterogeneities, anisotropy, and shear strains are most prominent for fibrotic, PPV-inflated lungs, indicating that the damaging regional imbalances of fibrosis are likely amplified by PPV. Additionally, when emphysema lungs are combined with PPV, central overdistensions occur, highlighting specific injury-prone areas. These local measures in pathological lungs expose pathways to VILI.

Congratulations to Matt on his publication in the Special Issue: Respiratory Mechanics in the Journal of Biomechanics titled "Surfactant-Depleted Rat Lungs: A Characterization of Organ- and Tissue-Level Mechanics Under Negative and Positive Pressure Ventilation"

Prof. Eskandari was invited to Edwards Lifesciences as part of the External Seminar Speakers Series to share bMECH's exclusive methods of linking organ deformations and tissue strains.

Congratulations to Matt first first-author publication in bMECH! "Lung recruitment mechanics: coalescing tissue strains with organ expansion" in Respiratory Research (Impact Factor 4.7). In this study, we find evidence of greater regional strains and inhomogeneity linked to overdistension and stress raisers in sustained inflation maneuvers compared to escalation maneuvers by inaugurating the first continuous quantification and association of local-to-global maneuver mechanics.

Congratulations to Katie for her manuscript published in American Journal of Physiology: Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology (Impact Factor 3.6), titled "Fibrotic and emphysematous murine lung mechanics under negative-pressure ventilation." Our nuanced conclusions indicate the detection capabilities of multiple mechanics-based biomarkers are sensitive to the ventilation mode, where NPV exhibits more altered mechanics metrics in PPE-exposed and HDE-exposed groups compared with PPV counterparts, suggesting the resolution of biomarkers when applied under NPV research considerations may offer greater versatility.

Prof. Eskandari was an invited to share bMECH's research at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technologies for the Preservation of Biological Systems (ATP-Bio), an Engineering Research Center (ERC) between the University of Minnesota, Massachusetts General Hospital, Texas A&M, UC-Riverside, UC-Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon.

Congratulations to Dr. Arif Badrou on his publication in bMECH: "Towards Constructing a Generalized Structural 3D Breathing Human Lung Model Based on Experimental Volumes, Pressures, and Strains." In this invited manuscript published in PLOS Computational Biology, we construct the first continuously ventilated three-dimensional structurally representative pulmonary model informed by both organ- and tissue-level breathing experiments from a cadaveric human lung.

Prof. Eskandari was honored with the Junior Excellence in Teaching Award as the only College of Engineering recipient. This prestigious accolade is reserved for faculty whose career record demonstrates commitment and determination of an outstanding teacher while pursuing research excellence. The Celebration of Teaching event featured a video interview and article and feature.

Congratulations to bMECH! In this invited manuscript, co-authored by each member of the bMECH lab, we describe the latest techniques for experimental characterization and computational modeling, representing dissemination of major efforts to advance the field of lung biomechanics. Find it at Current Protocols, Special Biomechanics Issue

Congratulations to Gustavo for his first manuscript published in Acta Biomaterialia (Impact Factor 9.7)! Pulmonary air leaks are amongst the most common complications in lung surgery and adhesives are commonly tested on pig and rat lungs, but applied to human lungs. We characterize the mechanical properties of the visceral pleura, the surface layer of the lung, of human lungs for the first time, and compare its performance to animal surrogates.

Dr. Badrou presented advances in structural breathing computational simulations of the human lungs at the World Congress on Computational Mechanics 2024 in Vancouver Canada. Congratulations!

Prof. Eskandari was invited to chair the Respiratory Biomechanics Session at the 29th Congress of the European Society for Biomechanics.

Congratulations to Talyah on publishing the biaxial material properties of healthy versus diseased lungs in mice in Results in Engineering (Impact Factor 5). We contrast fibrotic and emphysematous lung tissues and demonstrate anisotropic, stiffness, strain-rate, and age effects.

Prof. Eskandari was invited to chair the panel session "Respiratory Medicine in the Silicon Era" at the American Thoracic Society (ATS 2024) in San Diego.

Congratulations to Matt for winning the Best PhD Research Award at the Summer of Biomechanics, Bioengineering, Biotransport's (SB3C) 2024 Conference (American Society of Mechanical Engineering - Bioengineering Division) for his work on lung surfactant!

Crystal received the Diversity Travel Award and her research on human airways was accepted as a podium presentation at SB3C 2024. Congratulations!

Gustavo was named a Best PhD Research Finalist at SB3C 2024 for his research on the lung's visceral pleura. Congratulations!

Talyah's abstract contrasting positive versus negative pressure on COPD-induced mouse lungs was accepted as a podium presentation at SB3C 2024. Congratulations!

Katie presented her latest research findings on spherical indentation of lung tissue at SB3C 2024. Congratulations!

Dr. Badrou presented his latest research findings on developing a structural breathing model of the human lung at SB3C 2024. Congratulations!

Congrats to our undergraduate researcher alumni for co-authoring this study! bMECH's latest manuscript, a collaboration with Drs. Stanislav Polzer at the VSB- Technical University of Ostrava, Tara Nordgren at Colorado State University, and David Carter at UCR's Microscopy and Imaging Core Facility, was published in the #1 ranked journal for microscopy, Microscopy and Microanalysis We provide an automatic algorithm to simultaneously estimate fiber global orientation, abundance, and waviness in an investigated image, which is central for accurate characterization of soft tissue microstructures and the modeling of their mechanical response particularly in compromised pathological states.

bMECH lab's research was featured as one of the 12 incredible research breakthroughs across the 10-campus University of California-wide system! The research demonstrates the mechanical differences between how we naturally breathe and how artificial ventilators make us breathe, published in the prestigious American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (Impact Factor 30.5)

Congratulations to Katie for publishing her insightful investigation in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. We find that past contradictory and controversial findings in the field regarding ventilation mode comparisons between positive and negative pressure ventilation may be linked to the chosen animal model.

Congratulations on earning your Master's degrees, Crystal, Talyah, and Katie!

Prof. Eskandari's second invited Letter to the Editor for publication in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, co-authored by Prof. Jason Bates, provides a mechanics- and physics-based understanding of how artificial ventilation and physiological breathing differ.

Prof. Eskandari was invited to present bMECH's research breakthroughs at the highly exclusive and historical 18th Flow-Volume Underworld meeting in Sestri Levante, Italy.

Matt's research was accepted for a podium presentation (as a first year graduate student!) at Summer of Biomechanics, Bioengineering, Biotransport's (SB3C) 2023 Conference (American Society of Mechanical Engineering - Bioengineering Division). Congratulations!

Talyah's research on the material tensile properties of healthy versus diseased lung tissue was presented at SB3C. Congratulations!

Crystal's latest research findings on the local strains of intact airways was accepted for a podium presentation at SB3C. Congratulations!

Congratulations! Gustavo presented his research at SB3C 2023 (as a first year graduate student!)

In recognition of her advocacy, Prof. Eskandari was invited to serve as the Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as an organizing member of the SB3C 2023 conference.

Congratulations to Crystal on publishing the first mechanical characterization of fiber degeneration effects in pulmonary airways! Respiratory Research (Impact Factor 7.1). Lung diseases are often characterized by irreversible damage to connective tissue elastin and collagen fiber networks. Exploring the mechanical behavioral changes after enzymatic treatments provides us with an improved understanding of disease manifestation and the individual fiber roles for the first time for airway tissues.

Congratulations to Katie, Talyah, and Crystal for winning SB3C conference travel grants!

The bMECH lab applies for the patent "Apparatus and Methods for Pulmonary Monitoring," in Europe, Canada, Australia, China, India, Japan, Brazil, and U.S

Congratulations to Talyah on publishing the mechanics of diseased lungs using local DIC characterization for the first time! Nature Scientific Reports (Impact Factor 5). We were demonstrate how fibrotic lungs may be particularly susceptible to damage when contrasted to the strain patterns of healthy counterparts, helping to advance understanding of how ventilator induced lung injury develops.

Prof. Eskandari's invited Letter to the Editor was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine theorizing that the fundamental mechanical differences observed between artificial ventilation and physiological breathing can be explained using the thick-walled derivation of the Lamé equations.

Congratulations to Katie and Samaneh for receiving the Graduate Research Mentorship Program and Dissertation Year Program Fellowships !

Congratulations to joint first co-authors Samaneh and Crystal on publishing recent groundbreaking scientific findings in the prestigious American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (Impact Factor 30.5). In order to mitigate ventilator injury, we address a long-standing debate in the pulmonary medical community: do ventilator breathing mechanics mimic that of natural breathing? Using an innovative multi-apparatus interface developed in our lab, we minimized confounding factors by subjecting the same lung specimen to both loading modes. We found exclusive evidence that both global and local energetics, stretches, and distortions are reduced in physiological breathing compared to artificial ventilation. This also holds implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic. News Feature

Congratulations to Samaneh on her publication in Acta Biomaterialia (Impact Factor 10.6), titled "Biaxial mechanical properties of the bronchial tree: Characterization of elasticity, extensibility, and energetics, including the effect of strain rate and preconditioning."

Congratulations to Talyah on her first manuscript, coauthored by Katie, Samaneh, and Crystal in Physiological Reports titled "Associating local strains to global pressure–volume mouse lung mechanics using digital image correlation ." By quantifying strain evolutionary behavior in relation to pressure–volume measures, we associate time-continuous local to global mouse lung mechanics for the first time and further examine the role of volume and rate dependency. Research was conducted in collaboration with the Nordgren Lab (Colorado State University)

The non-confidential disclosure of our new device for pulmonary function testing in the 21st century (also published as a PCT patent application) is now available through the Office of Technologies Partnerships at UCR. This new medical device holds promise to be fast, easy and accurate for a patient to self-administer while providing greater insight for lung health than spirometry.

Congratulations Talyah and Crystal for being named National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows! The prestigious NSF-GRFP award is offered to only a select group of graduate students in the nation, based on the merit of their research and potential for scientific impact.

The only TWO students to be awarded in the whole college of engineering at UCR are from bMECH

Congratulations Gustavo for being awarded the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship! This award is named in honor of one of the earliest Mexican-American professors in the University of California system and is intended to supports students with demonstrated high potential and promise for an academic career

Prof. Eskandari's invited commentary was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, titled "Commentaries on Viewpoint: Small airways vs. large airways in asthma: time for a new perspective."

Congrats to Katie for receiving the NASA California Space Grant Consortium (CaSGC) Fellowship!

Congratulations to Katie on her first manuscript, coauthored by Talyah, Samaneh and Crystal in Nature Scientific Reports ! Mice are widely used in the study of lung pathologies, but there is a lack of fundamental mechanical measurements. Here we establish a baseline from which to assess diseased murine mechanics in the future. Research was conducted in collaboration with the Nordgren Lab (Colorado State University)

Congrats Samaneh for being named a 2022 Best PhD Research Finalist at the ASME SB3C annual conference!

Congratulations Crystal, Samaneh, Katie, and Talyah on their article in Respiratory Research "Examining lung mechanical strains as influenced by breathing volumes and rates using experimental digital image correlation." In the age of COVID-19, the insights provided by the real-time continuous measures, and the kinetics to kinematics pulmonary linkage established by this experimental study offers valuable characterizations for computational models and establishes a framework for future studies to compare healthy and diseased lung mechanics to further consider alternatives for effective ventilation strategies.

Congrats! Crystal, Katie, and Talyah received the ASME SB3C travel grant award to attend the 2022 annual conference in Maryland!

Congrats to Katie for receiving the World Congress for Biomechanics travel grant award to attend the quadrennial international conference in Taiwan!

Congrats Samaneh for receiving the Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship !

Prof. Eskandari received the prestigious Hellman Foundation Fellowship awarded to promising faculty who exhibit potential for great distinction in their area of expertise.

The bMECH lab was awarded a proof-of-concept grant to develop a lung diagnostics minimal viable product through the NSF UCR I-Corps INNOVA'R program

Congrats! Mohammad, Crystal and Samaneh's article "Developing a Lung Model in the Age of COVID-19: A Digital Image Correlation and Inverse Finite Analysis Framework" has been published as part of a Special Issue in Frontiers in Biomechanics: Multiscale Modeling to Tackle the Complexity of Load-Bearing Organ and Tissue Regulation. The proof-of-concept computational framework established here can be readily applied to investigate the impact of assorted organ-level ventilation strategies on local pulmonary force and strain distributions, and to further explore how diseased states may alter the load-bearing material behavior of the lung.

Prof. Eskandari has been conferred the permanent title of Distinguished Teaching Professor and will be inducted into UCR's Academy of Distinguished Teaching.

The bMECH lab was awarded a grant through Eurosemillas Technology Acceleration Program and the Office of Technology Partnerships to develop lung diagnostics

Prof. Eskandari received the Best Junior Faculty Presentation Award from the 16th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics and Springer Journals.

Congratulations Crystal for winning 2nd Place for Best PhD Research at the ASME SB3C annual conference!

The bMECH lab files an international patent "Apparatus and Methods for Pulmonary Monitoring," now pending

Congrats Talyah, Samaneh, and Crystal for being named Best PhD Research Finalists, and to Crystal for being selected as a Finalist for the Research Cover Art Contest at the ASME SB3C annual conference!

Prof. Eskandari co-chaired the "understanding lung function and disease through mathematical modeling and experiment" minisymposium at the Society of Mathematical Biology Conference.

Congrats Samaneh for receiving the Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship and the Lung-Wen Tsai Best Research Design Award!

Prof. Eskandari co-chaired the "quantification and modeling of spatially heterogeneous phenomena in biological materials" minisymposium at the 16th US National Congress for Computational Mechanics.

Congrats Talha for being awarded the National Goldwater Scholarship!

The bMECH lab was awarded an extramural grant for a lung structural biomechanics research project to improve ventilation strategies for pulmonary patients.

Congrats Katie, Talyah, and Crystal for receiving travel grants from the annual MEGSA Symposium!

The Entrepreneura Summit has invited Prof. Eskandari to be a speaker and moderator at the Possibilities for Women in STEM session

Prof. Eskandari was an invited speaker at Northern Arizona State University Mechanical Engineering departmental seminar series

Prof. Eskandari was invited as a plenary speaker to the International Living Heart and Virtual Twin for Humans Dassault Systèmes Symposium

Congrats! Crystal, Samaneh, and Mohammad's manuscript, titled "Novel Mechanical Strain Characterization of Ventilated Ex Vivo Porcine and Murine Lung Using Digital Image Correlation" has been published in Frontiers in Respiratory Physiology - (open access). We have established the foundation for linking local strains to global mechanics in the breathing lung, characterizing the regional response of the lung across various species, and contrasting healthy and pathological states. Thanks to our sponsors and our collaborators.

Prof. Eskandari was invited to present at the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope's Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine monthly seminar series

Professors Mona Eskandari, Mariam Salloum, and Annika Speer were awarded an extramural grant to redesign engineering curricula centered on improving technical communication skills.

Prof. Eskandari was invited to share research findings at Univ. of California at Irvine's Department of Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series

Congrats! Samaneh, Crystal, and Swathi's manuscript, titled "Introducing a Custom-Designed Volume-Pressure Machine for Novel Measurements of Whole Lung Organ Viscoelasticity and Direct Comparisons Between Positive- and Negative-Pressure Ventilation" has been published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology - Biomechanics (open access). We have conceptualized and designed a novel system to measure the volume and pressure response of lungs, surpassing the capabilities of traditional machines and constructed to range mouse, pig, and human lung size-scales. Thanks to our collaborators, the Nordgren lab at UCR's School of Medicine and CellScale Biomaterials Testing

The Dean's Biomed Collaborative Grant from the School of Medicine was awarded to the bMECH lab to explore new techniques for diagnosing pulmonary disease.

Prof. Eskandari received the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award

The UC National Laboratory Fees Research Grant was awarded to the bMECH lab. The initiative is aimed at rapidly supporting emergent research in areas

Prof. Eskandari was awarded a plaque from UCR's University Honors Program for 2020 Faculty Mentor of the Year.

UCR Academic Senate awarded a Regent's Faculty Fellowship to Prof. Eskandari.

Our lab's lung mechanics research is supporting the fight against coronavirus as featured on UCR News: #COVID-19 highlights what we have yet to learn about lung mechanics

Samaneh's manuscript, titled "Characterizing the viscoelasticity of extra- and intra-parenchymal lung bronchi"  has been published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials (open access). This is the first study to investigate proximal and distal bronchial energy efficiency and contextualize tissue biochemical composition using rheological models. Results establish a foundation for future considerations of the role of viscoelasticity in diseased states. Congrats Samaneh!

Samaneh presented her research on the viscoelasticity of the bronchial network at the Inaugural Southern California Mechanics Workshop at UC San Diego.

Prof. Eskandari was invited to NSF's Computational Mechanics Vision Workshop at the University of Michigan.

Talha won a Presentation Award in the area of Engineering, Math, and Physics in addition to a travel grant to present his work on fiber imaging morphology at the 2019 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. Congrats Talha!

Latest research findings featured on UCR News: Crimped or Straight? Lung fiber shape influences elasticity: The shape and architecture of collagen and elastin fibers can improve our understanding of lung diseases, including the one associated with vaping

Ricardo and Talha presented their research on imaging bronchial tissues at the MSRIP Research Symposia at UC-Riverside and UC-San Diego

Prof. Eskandari was an Invited Speaker at the 16th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering and the 4th Conference on Imaging and Visualization (CMBBE) at Columbia University, New York

bMECH's latest research findings published in Acta Biomaterialia is now available online. The link between structure and function is explored through constitutive modeling, biochemistry and histology

Our lab's research, featured on UCR News! UC Riverside research could eventually lead to advances in pulmonary healthcare: Scientists are just beginning to understand the mechanics of the lung

Samaneh received a travel grant to present her work on pulmonary viscoelasticity at the Summer of Biomechanics Biotransport and Bioengineering Conference (SB3C) in Seven Spring Pennsylvania. Congrats Samaneh!

The bMECH lab and collaborators were awarded First Place in the category of Best Research Paper from the American Society of Engineering Education: "Provoked Emotion in Student Stories of Motivation Reveal Gendered Perceptions of What It Means to be Innovative in Engineering"

The Molecular and Translational Medicine Grant was awarded to the bMECH lab. The initiative, from the School of Medicine and Entrepreneurial Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Center at the University of California at Riverside, is aimed at catalyzing translational life-science research to improve the health of individuals by translating basic findings into future innovative diagnostics or therapeutics

Prof. Eskandari was recognized by the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering with the Best PhD Award

Prof. Eskandari received the honor of being named the Flag Bearer for Stanford University's School of Engineering

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