Prasad Lab for Mat. Res - Funding/Research

Funding and Research

Plant Biomechanics

Figure: SEM images of sunflower stem showing, (a & b) whole cross-section, and (c and d) vessel wall thickness and diameter. The inner larger elliptical region (dashed line) shows an elliptical approximation for thin-walled section.

Biomechanics of Plant under growth

Plants are biocomposites with a hierarchical organization and multifunctionality similar to that of animals. They also have some very unique characteristics which differentiate them from animal systems. For example, they lack the skeletal system, motion, and neurological control. Instead, its structure is comprised primarily of tightly packed cells connected through their cell wall. Consequently, a stronger correlation between plant structure, function, and mechanical response is expected under external stressors, such as growth and diseases. Insights into these changes can have broad implications in bio-inspired design, bio-based material development, and precision agriculture. (Student: Salman Jamal, Alexi Switz, Alumni: Dr. Mukesh Roy)

Publications:

Jamal, M.S.I. and Prasad, A., 2023. Nanomechanics of Plant Cell Wall for Bioinspired Composite Design. In Proceedings of the American Society for Composites-39th Technical Conference. PDF
Switz, A., Mishra, A., Jabech, K. and Prasad, A., 2024. Affordable lab-scale electrospinning setup with interchangeable collectors for targeted fiber formation. HardwareX, 17, p.e00501.
Jamal, M.S.I., Hossen, A. and Prasad, A., 2023. Examining Cellulose-Pectin Interactions in Plant Cell Wall and Implication in Composite Design. In Proceedings of the American Society for Composites-38th Technical Conference. PDF
Temitope Borode, Danling Wang, Anamika Prasad, Polyaniline-based Sensor for Real-time Plant Growth Monitoring, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical. 2023 Jun 1;355:114319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2023.114319
Roy M, Prasad A. Raman Spectroscopy for Nutritional Stress Detection in Plant Vascular Tissue. (Materialia 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2022.101474
Roy, Mukesh and Mathew, Febina M. and Prasad, Anamika, Biomechanics of Vascular Plant as Template for Engineering Design. Materialia , 2020 May 29:100747.
Prasad, A, Roy, M, Bioimpedance Analysis of Vascular Tissue and Fluid Flow in Humans and Plants: A Review, Biosystems Engineering, 2020 Sep 1;197:170-87.

Funding Sources

Active

Florida Dept of Health, Florida Cancer Innovation Fund, 2024-2025
NSF DMREF/Collaborative Research: Active Learning-Based Material Discovery for 3D Printed Solids with Locally-Tunable Electrical and Mechanical Properties: (2023-July 2027), Award No 2323696
- Project brief description and partners of this award here
NSF CAREER: Mechanics of Next-Generation Composites using Cellulose and Bioinspired Interfaces (2022-2026), Award No 2304788
- Earlier at SDSU Award No 2046627

Older

Wokini Challenge Grant "Engineering Design Inspired by Nature: Culturally Integrated Materials Science Education" (July 2022 to June 2024).
- Grant Transferred to FIU (2022-Nov 2026), Award No 2304788, 2-year
2-year grant from North Central Regional Sun Grant Center "Translating Cellulose-based Biomass to Engineered Biocomposite" (2022 to 2024).

NASA EPSCOR Additively Manufactured GRCop-42 Extended Investigation (2020-2022)
NASA EPSCORCharacterization of GRCop-42 Additively Manufactured Material (2019-2021)
DOD Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship "Computational Mechanics of MXene-based Composites and its interfaces using Bioinspired Materials Design
DOD Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship "Framework for the Design of Functionally-graded bioinspired porous composites"
SD Space Grant Consortium (2020)
SDSU Research Challenge Fund "MXene Based 2D Materials: Bioinspired Design for Ultrathin Tough Composites" (USD 22,331, 2021-2022), Role: PI (2021)
North Central Regional Sun Grant Center "Characterization of Plant-Based Bio-Asphalt Binder and Bio-Additives as Sustainable Highway Construction Materials: A Preliminary Study" (2018-2019)
SDSU Research Challenge Fund "Biomechanics of Plant Cell Wall in Normal Growth and Disease" (2019)
Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Startup grant (2016 to 2018)

Research Areas

Plant Biomechanics

Cellulose Biomaterial

Bone Biomechanics

Specialized Manufacturing

Additive manufactured Metals

Biomedical Device

Cellulose-Based Biomaterial

Figure: (a) Tensile test showing stiffening of cellulose fiber with salt addition, and (b) FTIR spectra of cellulose fiber

Electrospinning Cellulose Fibers

Biobased polymer such as cellulose are abundant, durable, and robust and can form a versatile building block for sustainable societies. Cellulose offers unique advantages in tissue engineering due to its inherent biomimicry and biocompatibility. However, several limitations exist for its widespread use in tissue engineering, including the use of aggressive solvents, limitation in fibers strength, and access to easy manufacturing techniques. Our ongoing effort is focused on electrospinning cellulose-based materials with optimum fiber strength using an in-developed setup[1], and development of 3D bioprinter and cellulose-based ink for printing structured scaffold (current student: Ruhit Sinha)

Bone Biomechanics

Long-term Ex-vivo Tissue survivability

Ex-vivo bone tissue culture with mechanical stimulation can better capture cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction interactions, and has immense potential in bone biology research on earth and on space for space biology research for understanding pathways and mechanisms of diseases and treatments. We focus on design, development, and test of bone bioreactor for long-term survival of cancellous bone.

Figure: Fluorescent microscopy showing LIVE/DEAD cells. Calcein AM/ Ethidium homodimer-1 was used for staining which marks LIVE cells as “green,” and DEAD cells as “red” in the fluorescent image. (a) Inverted image of Day 0 sample shows primarily LIVE cells, indicating sample storage and preparation protocol did not damage the cells. (c) and (d) Live cells was seen 35 days post storage

Figure: Overall flow of Sample collection and Testing

Biomechanics of Bone under Radiation

Extracorporeal irradiation therapy (ECRT) and reimplantation is an established but rare technique used in the management of malignant bone tumors. ECRT involves single high-dose (50-300 Gys) radiation for sterilization of tumor affected bone post wide en-block excision and then reimplantation. Our earlier research focused on changes in the human bone under high-doses radiation. Continued work is focusing on the (1) development of tissue bioreactor for the long-term ex-vivo viability of bone as a model for bone tissue research[3], and (2) generating a fundamental understanding of micro-environmental and mechanostatic control of osteosarcoma using metaphysis bone model.

Specialized Manufacturing

Figure: In-house assembled electrospinner at $50 for STEM classroom

Electrospinner for Classroom Education

Figure: Anet A8 printer will be modified as 3D bioprinter

DIY 3D Bioprinter

Figure: In-house assembled electrospinner

In-House Electrospinner for Research

Figure showing in-house built electrospinning platform using a 20 mL syringe with a 14-gauge spinneret, Chemyx Fusion 100 pump, a rack Mounting Linear regulated power supply (Acopian), and arrangement with static and roller collector.

Additive Manufactured Metallic Alloys

Nanomechanics of 3D Printed Copper Alloy

Research based on Nano mechanical characterization of GRCop-42 which is copper based alloy developed by NASA. We use Nano indentation, XRD, SEM to estimate micro structural and mechanical (current student: Trupti Suresh)

Figure: (a) Blown-Powder deposited p-42 part; (b) As received material showing direction and location of sample cutting

Biomedical Device

Tonometry based Blood Pressure device: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) or abnormal function of heart and blood vessels is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. In US alone, heart disease accounts for 1 in every 4 deaths and is a major cause of illness and disability, thus significantly impacting our health care system. There is a need for technological improvement for CVD risk assessment, early detection and treatment, and consistent long-term patient evaluation. We are developing a tonometry based blood pressure and pulse waveform measuring device. Figure below shows the device main unit (a), sensor module (b and c), and underlying mechanical analysis (d). This work is in collaboration with IIT Delhi (India), and AIIMS Delhi (India)

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