BME Lecturer Series: Patrick Alford, University of Minnesota

Abstract: Arteries exist in a dynamic mechanical environment, necessitating constant adaptation to evolving forces to maintain their integrity. Mathematical models could be used clinically to systematically predict dysfunctional vascular mechano-adaptation, but current models are incomplete because the complex physiology of mechano-adaptation is not well enough understood. In this talk I will focus on our group’s recent work developing in vitro and in silico models for characterizing vascular smooth-muscle cell mechanics and adaptive remodeling for use in multiscale models of vascular disease. These approaches will then be applied to better understand the dynamics of vascular remodeling in hypertension and aneurysm growth.

Bio: Alford received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in 2007 from Washington University in St. Louis, where he developed elasticity-based theoretical models of tissue growth and remodeling in arteries and early organogenesis. He then did postdoctoral research at Harvard University before joining the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 2011. His current work primarily focuses on the biomechanics and mechanotransduction of vascular tissue and vascular smooth muscle cells, and the mechanobiology of traumatic cellular injury. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.