麻豆影院

Research Interests

Mechanics of soft biological materials, musculoskeletal development and regeneration, extracellular matrix

The primary focus of Associate Professor Sarah Calve's听research is to develop techniques to visualize听extracellular matrix (ECM) architecture and quantify the combined effect of听changes in local stiffness and听cyclic loading on the material properties of听soft tissues in the developing of the musculoskeletal system. Information听gathered from the characterization of the mechanics and听composition of听assembling tissues will guide the design of more successful regenerative听therapies than those based on the tissues of the homeostatic adult. She and her research group are听using bio-orthogonal labeling based strategies to identify newly synthesized听ECM proteins in the developing musculoskeletal system. To determine the听organization of these matrix components, they听are using confocal microscopy and听novel decellularization and clearing protocols to visualize the 3D architecture听of the ECM in the developing mouse. In addition, they听established a听new atomic听force microscopy based method to measure how these changes in composition听influence the mechanical properties of cells and ECM in the developing limb.听

Societal Impact

The long term goal of my laboratory is to fully characterize the composition, organization and听mechanics of the soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system (i.e.听muscle, tendon, ligament,听cartilage) to guide the design of therapies that can restore functionality to听damaged tissues.

Select Publications

• 听Xu, X., Li, Z., Cai, L., *Calve, S. and *Neu, C. (2016). 鈥淢apping the nonreciprocal micromechanics of individual cells and the surrounding matrix within living tissues,鈥� Scientific Reports, 6, 24272, DOI:10.1038/srep24272.
• *Calve, S., Witten, A.J., Ocken, A.R. and *Kinzer-Ursem, T. (2016). 鈥淚ncorporation of non-canonical amino acids into the developing murine proteome,鈥� Scientific Reports, 6, 32377, doi: 10.1038/srep32377.
• Leng, Y., Abdullah, A., Wendt, M.K. and *Calve, S. (2018) 鈥淗yaluronic acid, CD44 and RHAMM regulate myoblast behavior during embryogenesis,鈥� Matrix Biology, Special Issue on Hyaluronan Biology, DOI: .
• Silva Garcia, J.M., Panitch, A.P. and *Calve, S. (2019) 鈥淏iomechanical control of skeletal muscle cell behavior using peptide-functionalized hyaluronic acid hydrogels,鈥� Acta Biomaterialia, 84, 169 鈥� 179.
• Acu帽a, A., Sofronici, S.H., Goergen, C.J. and *Calve, S. (2019) 鈥淚n situ characterization of native extracellular matrix deformation,鈥� accepted for publication at Experimental Mechanics.

Select Awards

• NIH听Director鈥檚 New Innovator Award (2017)
• Rising Star Junior听Faculty Award, Biomedical Engineering Society鈥檚 Cellular and Molecular听Bioengineering Conference (2018)
• National听Academy of Engineering, Japan 鈥� America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium听Invitee (2018)
• 鈥淪potlight on the Future鈥� Invited Paper, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering (2018)
• Young听Faculty Travel Award, American Association of Anatomists (top 5 reviewed听abstract) (2018)
• 鈥淵oung Innovator Issue鈥� Invited Paper, Cellular and Molecular听Bioengineering (2019)

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