The Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory is located in room 403 of the Multidisciplinary Research Building in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. We have in-house facilities for experimental and numerical studies of tissue and whole body biomechanics as well as implant systems.

Equipment

Material and tissue testing facilities:

• Computer-controlled uniaxial electromechanical material testing system (Instron 5544) with various load cells and jigs for tension, compression and bending (3,4-point) loading modes
• Computer-controlled pendulum impact test system (Instron Dynatup POE2000e)
• Pneumatic stress-relaxation testing system
• Strain gauges, amplifiers and acquisition system
• High-precision electromechanical indentor

Whole body biomechanics:

• Below-knee prosthesis with phantom of the residual limb instrumented to measure limb-prosthesis contact pressures for various knee loading conditions
• Pressure mat (Tactilus sensor products Co.) for sitting pressure measurements.
• 2 Pressure pads (Tactilus sensor products Co.) for lower-limb prosthetic-users.
• Contact pressure measurement sensors (FlexiForce, Tekscan Co.) and data acquisition system, including sensor circuits, amplifiers, and sampling (A/D) boards
• Electronic goniometers and sampling circuits
• CCD cameras, video system and monitors for analysis of posture and motion kinematics
• 12-channel BIOPAC EMG amplifier system and surface electrodes
• Treadmill
• Various precision weights (e.g. 5, 10, 20 Kg)
• Wheelchair

Light microscope facilities:

• Transmitted and reflected light microscope
• CCD camera-based image acquisition system, fully integrated with our computers, including image analysis software

Bone processing facilities:

• Drill press, rotating diamond saw, storage refrigerator and freezer, digital scale (resolution: 0.01g)
• Chemical hood

Electronics:

• Digital and analogue oscilloscopes, pulse generators, power supplies, amplifiers, universal multitester, soldering tools

Computers

Our computational facilities for image processing and high-performance computation include several PC-based workstations, connected through a local network and to the campus network and high-speed Internet via Ethernet connections

Software:

• SolidWorks 2008 for geometry reconstruction and solid modeling
• ABAQUS 6.8
• NASTRAN 2005 for finite element analysis
• Visual Studio (C++ developer package)
• MATLAB
• LABVIEW 8.5
• Photoshop
• Adobe Acrobat Writer
• Various packages for word processing, statistical analysis, graph plotting, and slide preparation

Peripheral Hardware:

• 30, 60 and 80 GB portable backup hard-disks
• 3 scanners, one equipped for X-ray, CT and MRI films
• CD-ROM writers
• Networked laser and color printers

Cell and tissue culturing facilities

We have full access to shared departmental facilities for cell and tissue culturing. One cell lab includes 2 laminar flow cabinets, 2 incubators, refrigerators and -20, -70°C freezers, optical microscopes and a Western blot. The other lab includes 3 additional laminar flow cabinets, 3 biological-chemical hoods, 4 more incubators, advanced light microscopes with full image capture abilities, and a fluorescent microscope.