BMIL at Penn State University
Professor Daniel Cortes is the Principal Investigator
Mechanics applied to medicine, developing novel diagnosis techniques
Overview
Our goal is to develop non-invasive methods to quantify mechanical properties of muscles, tendons and ligaments for more accurate diagnosis and evaluation of the recovery from injuries.
Research Projects
Evaluating Overuse Injuries in Tendons and Ligaments
We use shear wave elastography to measure the decrease in mechanical properties as indicators of the overuse and evaluate the risk of injuries in ligaments and tendons of baseball players… More
Short- and Long-Term Effects of RFA for Back Pain
We investigate the possible short- and long-term effects of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for facet joint pain (low back pain) on the function of back muscles and degeneration of the spine… More
Non-Invasive Measurement of Muscle Forces
We develop analytical and experimental methods to estimate the force generated by individual muscles by measuring changes in muscle stiffness (shear modulus) during neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)… More
Diagnosis of Compartment Syndrome
Compartment Syndrome (CS) occurs when excessive pressure builds up inside an enclosed tissue (compartment) in the body such as lower-leg muscles or the abdomen… More
Ultrasound Elastography as an Evaluation Tool for Achilles Tendinopathy
There is a lack of non-invasive cost-effective methods to quantify the effect of tendon injuries on their structural and mechanical properties… More
Noninvasive Measurement of Intervertebral Disc Mechanics with MR Elastography
Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is characterized by a progressive cascade of changes in organization and mechanical properties of annulus fibrosus (AF), nucleus pulposus (NP) and end plates (EP)… More
News
Hanife Kumru Joins our Lab – 12/02/2019
Hanife is a first-year Ph.D. student from Turkey. She completed her undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at Gazi University (Turkey) and her masters at PSU. She joined the lab to work on shear wave elastography applied to the evaluation muscle function back pain patients.
New Paper Accepted for Publication in JMBBM– 10/16/2019
Our latest paper on a new method to estimate the shear modulus of thin tissues like tendons has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.
Presenting our Work at CMBBE 2019– 08/16/2019
It was great to present our new elastography method named “Harmonic Shear Wave Imaging” at the 2019 Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. This method uses a sinusoidal variation in pulse intensity to create shear waves with a single frequency. This method can potentially produce wave speed values comparable to MRE.
Ali Sadeghi Successfully Defended his Ph.D. Dissertation– 06/11/2019
Ali Sadeghi successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled: “Evaluation of Muscle Function and Pathologies Using Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography”. The evaluation committee included Dr. Meghan Vidt, Dr. Stephen Piazza, and Dr. Jason Moore.
New Paper Published in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering – 5/6/2019
A paper describing a new method to evaluate spine muscle function using shear wave elastography has been just published. This technique can be very useful in evaluating how muscles are affected by back pain and spine surgeries.
Five Abstracts Accepted for Presentation at SB3C – 3/15/2019
Five abstracts were accepted for presentation at the summer biomechanics, bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference. This conference will be held in Seven Springs, PA this coming summer. Thanks to our students for the hard work.
Contact
Thank you for your interest in the BMIL at PSU
Contact Info
Daniel Cortes, Ph.D. (PI)
329 Leonhard Building
University Park, PA, 16802
Tel: (814) 863 3103
dhc13@psu.edu
Directions
Our lab is located on the third floor of 329 Leonhard Building at Pennsylvania State University.