Our effort in materials science and tissue characterization encompasses several themes. We focus heavily on the use of non-destructive techniques to characterize the 3D properties of intact cardiovascular tissues. Interests include myocardial microstructure, vascular calcification and the morphology of atherosclerotic plaques. We are also involved in the design, testing and application of new biomaterials to aid myocardial regeneration and function.

Selected Papers

Park C, Fan Y, Hager G, Yuk H, Singh M, Rojas A, Hameed A, Saeed M, Vasilyev NV, Steele TWJ, Zhao X, ^#Nguyen CT and ^#Roche ET. An organosynthetic dynamic heart model with enhanced biomimicry guided by cardiac diffusion tensor imaging. Science Robotics. 2020;5:eaay9106.

Malhotra R, Burke MF, Martyn T, Shakartzi HR, Thayer TE, O’Rourke C, Li P, Derwall M, Spagnolli E, Kolodziej SA, Hoeft K, Mayeur C, Jiramongkolchai P, Kumar R, Buys ES, Yu PB, Bloch KD and Bloch DB. Inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein signal transduction prevents the medial vascular calcification associated with matrix Gla protein deficiency. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0117098.

Mekkaoui C, Porayette P, Jackowski MP, Kostis WJ, Dai G, Sanders S and Sosnovik DE. Diffusion MRI tractography of the developing human fetal heart. PLoS One. 2013;8:e72795.

Karolyi M, Seifarth H, Liew G, Schlett CL, Maurovich-Horvat P, Stolzmann P, Dai G, Huang S, Goergen CJ, Nakano M, Otsuka F, Virmani R, Hoffmann U and Sosnovik DE. Classification of coronary atherosclerotic plaques ex vivo with T1, T2, and ultrashort echo time CMR. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2013;6:466-74.

Mekkaoui C, Huang S, Chen HH, Dai G, Reese TG, Kostis WJ, Thiagalingam A, Maurovich-Horvat P, Ruskin JN, Hoffmann U, Jackowski MP and Sosnovik DE. Fiber architecture in remodeled myocardium revealed with a quantitative diffusion CMR tractography framework and histological validation. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2012;14:70.