Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar Series

Title: Illuminating the complex mechanics of a simple breath

Abstract: We rely on our lungs to take more than 20,000 breaths per day and are often incognizant of the complex mechanics governing this critical organ. But compromised pulmonary function can be detrimental to our quality of life. Lung disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally; half a billion individuals world-wide grapple with the incapacitating challenges of respiratory disease, with staggering costs projected to rise to nearly five trillion dollars by the year 2030. Concerningly and paradoxically, certain prevalent pulmonary interventions intended to help patients can cause respiratory damage (e.g., ventilator induced lung injury, VILI). To understand why such damage occurs, we designed and built an innovative electro-mechanical multiapparatus interface to probe the (non-)equivalent mechanics of artificial positive-pressure ventilation versus natural negativepressure breathing (PPV vs. NPV). Our platform offers novel spatiotemporal insights by coupling previously siloed analyses of global lung pressure-volume loads to local finite tissue strains, while minimizing confounding factors by comparing ventilation modes applied to the same lung specimen. Our methodology offers unparalleled structural characterization capabilities and exclusive evidence demonstrating that while global PPV and NPV responses may match, local stretch and distortions along with organ energetics and viscoelasticity of NPV are notably reduced, expounding why injury potentially results from PPV. This powerful experimental approach sheds light on a long-standing debate in pulmonary medicine, and informs the development of our predictive computational breathing lung models to emulate the strain profile of a physiological breath by strategically altering ventilation maneuvers. Such advancements can ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Bio: Mona Eskandari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Medicine's multidisciplinary BREATHE Center at the University of California, Riverside. She conducted her postdoctoral fellowship at UC-Berkeley, and received her PhD and master's degrees from Stanford University, and her bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona as a Nugent Medalist. Her area of expertise centers on the structural and material function of the lung at the organ-, tissue-, and micro-scale, and she has established the bioMechanics Experimental and Computational Health (bMECH) laboratory, a world-renowned pulmonary mechanics research lab. She is best recognized for pioneering experimental technologies, such as innovative breathing mimicry platforms interfacing with adapted digital image correlation methods to enable unprecedented quantification capabilities for examining rapid and finite breathing mechanics, and for developing predictive computational tools to inaugurate novel diagnostic techniques for medical intervention. Her lab is supported by federal grants and industry partners. And she is the recipient of several prestigious national and international research awards and fellowships, including the NSF Fellowship, the Hellman Faculty Fellowship, and the K.P. Cross Future Leader of Higher Education Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

NOTE: At this time, in-person Mechanical and Civil Engineering Lectures are open to all Caltech students/staff/faculty/visitors.