Welcome to the Biomechanics of Growth and Remodeling (BG&R) Lab!
The BG&R Laboratory focuses on understanding how reproductive tissues maintain homeostasis and adapt to altered mechanical and compositional changes. We seek to understand how cells within tissues alter the production, removal, and organization of extracellular matrix proteins that prescribe tissue function and structural integrity. Understanding these relationships is critical to determining fundamental physiologic behavior and how pathophysiological processes occur. In turn, this will help design and inform effective clinical interventions. Major themes of this work include evaluating the role of elastic fibers and smooth muscle cells in the female reproductive system and understanding constraints on soft tissue adaptation and regeneration, such as increasing age and pregnancy and postpartum. To accomplish this, we develop tools to directly address gaps in the fundamental knowledge of evolving structure-function relationships in soft biological tissues. Specifically, we leverage multiaxial mechanical testing methods, constitutive models, model systems with varying constraints on regenerative capability, and genetically modified animals to yield dynamic structure-function relationships to design predictive tools to guide interventions.
This research is complemented by collaborations with pelvic floor surgeons (Maria Florian-Rodriguez, MD, UTSW) and experts in imaging (Isaac Pence, PhD, UTSW). Our research program seeks to improve fundamental knowledge of female reproductive organs to improve clinical care of specific problems in public health (e.g., pelvic floor disorders) and leverage our findings across disciplines to improve adult wound healing and tissue regeneration strategies.
We are located in the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences building on the east campus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Learn more about the new building here!
Photos by Hannah Lyons
Pledge: These posters are meant to show that racial justice and support for marginalized communities cannot be separated from the practice of science. We must actively work to recognize the obstacles that scientists (and potential scientists) from marginalized communities face and dismantle structures of power that prevent them from succeeding. We must also consider the effects of our research and research choices on marginalized communities.
This poster and pledge was adapted from Sammy Katta. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Some graphics adapted with permission from the Library of Science and Medical Illustrations by Luk Cox and Idoya Lahortiga. Some graphics adapted from reproductive by ainul muttaqin from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)