Material properties of engineered tissues evaluated with nondestructive methods

The rapidly advancing field of tissue engineering requires innovative approaches to characterize the changing properties of engineered constructs. Non-destructive evaluations of mechanical properties are a critical portion of this. Tissue engineers must have the ability to dynamically evaluate the growth of cells on material scaffolds producing engineered tissues. We have developed an acoustic method to stress the surface of tissues and using optical techniques we are able to non-invasively measure the properties of the tissue. This method is compared to traditional uniaxial tensile mechanical testing. This new methodology provides a minimally invasive technique to strain tissues and non-invasively measure the mechanical properties of the material.