Monday  |  Salon 8  |  09:40 AM–10:00 AM

#16077, Ultra-fast Mechanics of Acoustically Responsive Scaffolds

Acoustically responsive scaffolds (ARSs) are fibrin hydrogels intended to deliver regenerative molecules into living systems. Embedded in these hydrogels are encapsulated double-emulsion droplets which can be triggered into a stable vapor phase by means of spatiotemporally targeted ultrasound pulse trains. While the bulk stiffness of a fibrin ARS increases with the concentration of fibrinogen before polymerization, there is an open question of whether the material behavior itself changes between the reference droplet configuration and the post-pulse-train deformed vapor droplet configuration. Of further interest is what the transient behavior during the rapid growth process resembles.

Our prior work in developing inertial microcavitation rheometry (IMR) has shown the transient elastic behavior of fibrin ARSs to be strongly dependent on the concentration of fibrin in the gels. In this talk, we expect to focus on observed transient changes in the material behavior using a recently developed extension to IMR incorporating data assimilation. Coupled with multiphoton volumes of the scaffolds pre- and post- ultrasound, we aim to develop a mechanistic understanding of both the changes undergone in the material and the resulting mechanical behavior of the bubble as it expands, collapses, and oscillates.

Bachir Abeid   University of Michigan
Mitra Aliabouzar   University of Michigan
Mario Fabiilli   University of Michigan
Jonathan Estrada   University of Michigan