The World Health Organization released new statistics on the rate of preterm birth around the world. The bottom line is preterm birth rates are still high. About 15 million babies are born preterm every year. In 2013 almost 1 million babies died from complications related to preterm birth. Increased knowledge on the cause of preterm and better solutions to prevent it from happening are much needed.
Publication Alert: Collagen Crosslinks and Tensile Structural Properties in Mouse Cervix Throughout Gestation
Our paper titled, “Quantitative Evaluation of Collagen Crosslinks and Corresponding Tensile Mechanical Properties in Mouse Cervical Tissue during Normal Pregnancy” has been published in the open source journal, PLOS ONE. Here, we report our findings on both mature and immature collagen crosslink density throughout mouse gestation and how it correlates to tensile structural properties.
Thank you to our collaborators and co-authors for your contributions!
Filed under Science
Collaborative Effort – Columbia Medical Center and School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS)
The Myers lab is featured in this Summer’s edition of Connections (pages 7-8) – a Newsletter from the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The article details our collaborative relationship with clinicians and scientists to unravel the causes of preterm birth. Here, we discuss how we use our finite elements models of pregnancy to understand how the cervix acts as a mechanical barrier to protect the fetus.
Myers Lab at World Congress of Biomechanics 2014
The Myers Lab will be presenting 2 podium and 1 poster presentation at this year’s World Congress of Biomechanics in Boston. These presentations will be a part of the Reproductive Biomechanics and FEBio Symposia.
Reproductive Biomechanics Symposium:
1. The Constitutive Modeling of Human Cervical Tissue, presented by Kristin M.Myers
2. Cervical Tissue Remodeling and Collagen Crosslinks in Infection and Non-Infection Based Preterm Birth Mouse Models, presented by Kyoko Yoshida
FEBio Symposium
3. A Finite Element Model of the Female Pelvic Region during Pregnancy, presented by Kristin M. Myers (first author: Michael Fernandez)
Coauthors: Joy Vink, MD, Ronald Wapner, MD, Mala Mahendroo, PhD, Michael Fernandez, Wang (Frank) Yao, Noelia Zork, MD, Serge Cremers, PhD Honfeng Jiang, PhD, & David Paik, MD
Filed under Conferences, Science
Honoring Alan Wineman at USNCTAM 2014
The Myers lab had the pleasure to join fellow mechanics colleagues and other former students to honor Alan Wineman in his 50th year of teaching at the University of Michigan at this year’s USNCTAM meeting at MSU. Our work in trying to understand and model the complex collagen remodeling behavior of cervical tissue during pregnancy is directly inspired by Prof. Wineman’s work in scission and crossliking of rubbers. Kudos, Alan, to an amazing career and inspiring so many students!
Alan Wineman and Kristin Myers
Filed under Conferences, People, Science
WSJ Article on Bed Rest and Preterm Birth
A recent Wall Street Journal Article (published: Tuesday, July 16th, 2013) discusses the possible detrimental effects of long-term bed rest during pregnancy. Often bed rest is prescribed to prevent preterm birth due to premature cervical dilation (aka cervical insufficiency). However, since not much is known about the mechanics of cervical remodeling and dilation, the efficacy of bed rest to prevent preterm birth is unknown.
Filed under In the News
ASME SBC 2013 PhD Competition
Congratulations to Kyoko for winning first place at this year’s ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference PhD student competition in Sunriver, Oregon. The title of her presentation was, “Cervical Collagen Network Remodeling in Normal and Disrupted Parturition Mouse Models “.
Filed under Science
Congratulations to Dr. Myers and Taylor!
Congratulations to Dr. Myers and Taylor Chaintreuil for receiving awards at the Commencement ceremony this past Monday. Dr. Myers received the Edward and Carole Kim Award for Faculty Involvement. This award is given to an exemplary faculty member who is not only an outstanding teacher but also displays a special, personal commitment to students. Taylor, who just recently graduated from the school of engineering, received the George Vincent Wendell Memorial Medal. This award is given to a student, chosen by their class and the faculty of the Columbia Engineering school, who best reflects the ideals of character, scholarship, and service. Congratulations to them both and good luck to Taylor at her new job at Boeing!
Filed under Science
Cervical Tissue Remodeling During Pregnancy
Our paper entitled “Interstitial growth and remodeling of biological tissues: Tissue composition as state variables” reviews the latest literature of cervical tissue remodeling during pregnancy and details a constitutive remodeling framework for evoling tissue properties based on the evolution of the tissue’s microstructure. This paper was co-authored by Gerard Ateshian and is available online.
Society of Gynecologic Investigation 2013 Meeting
The Myers lab presented two posters at this years SGI meeting in Orlando Florida. Both posters presented our investigation into the correlation between cervical mechanical strength and collagen crosslink density during cervical remodeling. Here, Kyoko explains her methodology to determine the swelling characteristics of the cervix during pregnancy.
Filed under Conferences, Science
kristinmyerscolumbia.com 