The Mechanical and Material Assessment Core focuses on providing complementary techniques fordetermining mechanical properties and performing material characterization of native and engineeredorthopaedic tissues, as well as providing in vivo models to study adaptation of these skeletal tissues tomechanical stimuli. Skeletal tissues include bone, cartilage, ligament, menicus and tendon, and accomplishtheir in vivo function through a wide range of material compositions and mechanical behavior. These tissuesare responsive to their biophysical and biochemical environments, adapting their composition and structure.Skeletal function is dictated by the properties of the materials and the spatial distribution of the materialswithin the structure. Assessing function is fundamental to endeavors aimed at musculoskeletal repair andregeneration, because these attempts will only succeed if mechanical function can be restored. Therefore,the goals of the Mechanical and Material Assessment Core are to provide equipment and methodologies formechanical testing and material characterization of musculoskeletal tissues and organs; to train investigatorsin the use and interpretation of these techniques; and, to develop new applications and methodologies tosupport the research programs of investigators within the Core Center's biomedical research base. Newtesting methodologies suitable to the biological approaches being used in current and planned experimentsby cOre investigators have been developed, particularly for in vivo small animal experiments, to complementtechniques (such as micro-CT, histology, and Fourier transform infrared imaging) available in the Center'sother research cores. These efforts are periodically reviewed by user groups, which include biomedicalengineers, clinicians, biologists, radiologists, chemists, and their students. The result has been an expansionof collaborations among the multidisciplinary biomedical research base and the introduction of newinvestigators to the capabilities of the core.
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