Conference Agenda

The course will primarily concentrate on establishing the fundamentals of biomechanics and constitutive modeling within biological tissues. It will lay the groundwork for understanding tensor algebra, continuum mechanics, and nonlinear elasticity, progressing to the study of constitutive modeling in biological solids. Additionally, the course will touch on topics such as computational methods, growth, and remodeling, with a consistent emphasis on theoretical analysis and mathematical modeling integrated into the curriculum.

Hard tissues are fascinating materials that are found in very different contexts. Bone tissue, for example, was amongst the first investigated tissues in biomechanics. However, there remain a number of clinical challenges due to skeletal diseases that affect millions of patients worldwide. Cold-water corals on the other hand are vitally important to sustain marine biodiversity but are threatened by ocean acidification, desoxygenation, and rising water temperatures.

We use these seemingly disparate example tissues to illustrate how constitutive models across several length scales can be developed and used to address emerging research questions. We will also give an overview of computational and experimental methods that are helpful in developing such models.