Meir M. Barak PhD, DVM
Bone Biomechanics lab
My lab study cortical and trabecular bone tissues. Current main research areas fall into the following categories: the structure of bone, bone biomechanics, and bone adaptation to load. I address these topics using several tools:
A Universal Testing Machine to test whole bones and bone samples in compression and tension.
Creating 3D computer models from micro-CT scans which will then be tested in-silico using Finite element Analysis software.
3D printing the same computer models and mechanically testing them in various ways to learn their structural properties.
These three approaches, combined together, can help us achieve new understanding of bone tissue structure-function relation which in turn can improve our ability to diagnose and treat various bone pathologies (e.g. osteoporosis, bone-implant interphase, etc.).
Dr. Meir Barak
Meir Barak CV.pdfI received my bachelor degree (B.Sc.) in animal science and my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from The Hebrew University (Rehovot, Israel). For the next 8 years I worked in several small animal clinics (my passion is orthopedics) while I pursued my PhD. in bone biomechanics and my teaching certificate (biology teacher for high schools) from the Weizmann institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel). During my Post-doctoral research I held a joined position at Harvard University, The Department of Human Evolutionary Biology (Cambridge, MA) and The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany). There, I did research on extinct hominins bipedal locomotion and its manifestation in the structure of the ankle's trabecular bone. In 2012, I became a teaching fellow at Harvard University and later I accepted a lecturer position. I taught the labs for “Life Science 2” (anatomy and physiology) and my own course - “Bone Biology and Biomechanics”. In August 2013, I accepted an Assistant Professor position at Winthrop University (Rock Hill, SC). At Winthrop I taught “Human Anatomy” (lectures and labs), “The Biology of Bone” (lectures and labs), and other undergraduate and graduate courses (both for Biology and non-Biology majors), while continuing my research in Bone Biomechanics. Starting August 2018, I was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. In January 2019, I accepted an Associate Professor position at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Long Island University (Brookville, NY). Currently I’m teaching mostly veterinary anatomy and doing research on bone structure-function relationship using 3D printing, computer simulations and mechanical testing.
