Biomaterials & Biomechanics

Thank you for visiting the web page of the Department of Biomaterials and Biomechanics of the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Dentistry. Our department is staffed by four full-time faculty, two professors emeritus, two full-time research associates, two full-time research assistants, one full-time administrative assistant, one graduate student and part-time student researchers. Our research and teaching activities cover many areas of biomedical engineering including mechanics of polymers and polymer matrix composites, structure/property relationships in biomaterials, biomedical optics, finite element analysis, micromechanics, tribology, biomechanics of engineered tissues, electron microscopy, fracture mechanics, cardiovascular biomechanics, and image processing. We have several industrial partners and have close ties with engineering departments at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. We apply leading edge engineering methods to synthetic and biological materials to understand their mechanical and physical behavior. Our research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and industrial contracts.

The priorities of the department are threefold: - To perform extramurally funded state-of-the-art research in biomaterials and biomechanics incorporating novel and innovative experimental methods. - To provide a contemporary, scientifically-based and clinically relevant curriculum in biomaterials and biomechanics to undergraduate dental and dental hygiene students, as well as to graduate students. - To facilitate the transfer of science and technology to local, regional, and national audiences of oral health care providers by providing critical reviews of the current literature and examples of clinical applications of technology developed in our research laboratories.