The mechanics of biological tissues is a multidisciplinary and rapidly expanding area of research. This book points to important directions combining mechanical sciences with the new developments in biology. It delivers articles on mechanics of tissues at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels.

The application of methodological approaches and mathematical formalisms proper to Physics and Engineering to investigate and describe biological processes and design biological structures has led to the development of many disciplines in the context of computational biology and biotechnology. The best known applicative domain is tissue engineering and its branches. Recent domains of interest are in the field of biophysics, e.g.: multiscale mechanics of biological membranes and films and filaments; multiscale mechanics of adhesion; biomolecular motors and force generation. Modern hypotheses, models, and tools are currently emerging and resulting from the convergence of the methods and phylosophycal apporaches of the different research areas and disciplines. All these emerging approaches share the purpose of disentangling the complexity of organisms, tissues, and cells and mimiking the function of living systems. The contributions presented in this book are current research highlights of six challenging and representative applicative domains of phyisical, engineering, and computational approaches in medicine and biology, i.e tissue engineering, modelling of molecular structures, cell mechanics and cell adhesión processes, cancer physics, and physico-chemical processes of metabolic interactions. Each chapter presents a compendium or a review of the original results achieved by authors in the last years. Furthermore, the book also wants to pinpoint the questions that are still open and that could propel the future research.

The motivation for writing aseries ofbooks on biomechanics is to bring this rapidly developing subject to students of bioengineering, physiology, and mechanics. In the last decade biomechanics has become a recognized disci pline offered in virtually all universities. Yet there is no adequate textbook for instruction; neither is there a treatise with sufficiently broad coverage. A few books bearing the title of biomechanics are too elementary, others are too specialized. I have long feIt a need for a set of books that will inform students of the physiological and medical applications of biomechanics, and at the same time develop their training in mechanics. We cannot assume that all students come to biomechanics already fully trained in fluid and solid mechanics; their knowledge in these subjects has to be developed as the course proceeds. The scheme adopted in the present series is as follows. First, some basic training in mechanics, to a level about equivalent to the first seven chapters of the author's A First Course in Continuum Mechanics (Prentice-Hall,lnc. 1977), is assumed. We then present some essential parts of biomechanics from the point of view of bioengineering, physiology, and medical applications. In the meantime, mechanics is developed through a sequence of problems and examples. The main text reads like physiology, while the exercises are planned like a mechanics textbook. The instructor may fil1 a dual role: teaching an essential branch of life science, and gradually developing the student's knowledge in mechanics.

Introductory Biomechanics is a new, integrated text written specifically for engineering students. It provides a broad overview of this important branch of the rapidly growing field of bioengineering. A wide selection of topics is presented, ranging from the mechanics of single cells to the dynamics of human movement. No prior biological knowledge is assumed and in each chapter, the relevant anatomy and physiology are first described. The biological system is then analyzed from a mechanical viewpoint by reducing it to its essential elements, using the laws of mechanics and then tying mechanical insights back to biological function. This integrated approach provides students with a deeper understanding of both the mechanics and the biology than from qualitative study alone. The text is supported by a wealth of illustrations, tables and examples, a large selection of suitable problems and hundreds of current references, making it an essential textbook for any biomechanics course.

The structures of living tissues are continually changing due to growth and response to the tissue environment, including the mechanical environment. Tissue Mechanics is an in-depth look at the mechanics of tissues. Tissue Mechanics describes the nature of the composite components of a tissue, the cellular processes that produce these constituents, the assembly of the constituents into a hierarchical structure, and the behavior of the tissue’s composite structure in the adaptation to its mechanical environment. Organized as a textbook for the student needing to acquire the core competencies, Tissue Mechanics will meet the demands of advanced undergraduate or graduate coursework in Biomedical Engineering, as well as, Chemical, Civil, and Mechanical Engineering. Key features: Detailed Illustrations Example problems, including problems at the end of sections A separate solutions manual available for course instructors A website (http://tissue-mechanics.com/) that has been established to provide supplemental material for the book, including downloadable additional chapters on specific tissues, downloadable PowerPoint presentations of all the book's chapters, and additional exercises and examples for the existing chapters. About the Authors: Stephen C. Cowin is a City University of New York Distinguished Professor, Departments of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering, City College of the City University of New York and also an Adjunct Professor of Orthopaedics, at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, New York. In 1985 he received the Society of Tulane Engineers and Lee H. Johnson Award for Teaching Excellence and a recipient of the European Society of Biomechanics Research Award in 1994. In 1999 he received the H. R. Lissner medal of the ASME for contributions to biomedical engineering. In 2004 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and he also received the Maurice A. Biot medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Stephen B. Doty is a Senior Scientist at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York and Adjunct Professor, School of Dental and Oral Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY. He has over 100 publications in the field of anatomy, developmental biology, and the physiology of skeletal and connective tissues. His honors include several commendations for participation in the Russian/NASA spaceflights, the Spacelab Life Science NASA spaceflights, and numerous Shuttle missions that studied the influence of spaceflight on skeletal physiology. He presently is on the scientific advisory board of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, Houston, Texas.

The book is written by leading experts in the field presenting an up-to-date view of the subject matter in a didactically sound manner. It presents a review of the current knowledge of the behaviour of soft tissues in the cardiovascular system under mechanical loads, and the importance of constitutive laws in understanding the underlying mechanics is highlighted. Cells are also described together with arteries, tendons and ligaments, heart, and other biological tissues of current research interest in biomechanics. This includes experimental, continuum mechanical and computational perspectives, with the emphasis on nonlinear behaviour, and the simulation of mechanical procedures such as balloon angioplasty.

This text presents a general introduction to soft tissue biomechanics. One of its primary goals is to introduce basic analytical, experimental and computational methods. In doing so, it enables readers to gain a relatively complete understanding of the biomechanics of the heart and vasculature.