Modeling the Mechanical Properties of Pulmonary Alveoli with Fibrosis and Other Lung Diseases

Received undergraduate research scholarship from College of EngineeringIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most common interstitial lung disease in the world. Of all interstitial pneumonias, it also has the most unfavorable prognosis and is considered more deadly than several cancers. IPF also has no known treatments or therapies to effectively combat the disease. There is no current way to measure the local mechanical deformations of fibrotic alveolar geometries in vivo. The resolution of current imaging modalities is too poor to capture the complex microstructure of lung tissue non-invasively. Therefore, to develop efficacious treatments for this disease, it has become very important to be able to accurately reproduce the damage caused by fibrosis in a lab setting. A new method of computationally simulating the mechanical properties of diseased lung tissue has been developed using microscopic images of histological slides containing fibrotic and healthy mouse lung tissue. This method uses software including ImageJ, COMSOL, and MATLAB to process these images and simulate their mechanical response to a biaxial tensile test under physiologically appropriate boundary conditions. This method was used to process several microscopic images taken at different time points throughout the progression of the disease. Results using this method indicate significant deformation as well as changes in maximum strain values throughout the tissue samples. This data will be used to produce a device that will reproduce the mechanical behavior of fibrotic lung tissue, commonly referred to as “lab-on-a-chip” technology. This device will allow pulmonary researchers to better predict the outcomes of treatments for IPF to improve patients' quality of life and ultimately find a cure.No embargoAcademic Major: Biomedical Engineerin