The Musculoskeletal Mechanics and Materials Laboratories in the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Orthopaedics is under the direction of our collaborators Drs. Clare Rimnac and Christopher Hernandez.  These facilities occupy approximately 5800 square feet of research space and include laboratories for a) Biomechanical Testing, b) Orthopaedic Materials Performance, c) Soft Tissue Biomechanics, d) Sample Preparation, e) Orthopaedic Implant Retrieval Analysis f) Image Analysis, and g) Cell Biomechanics.  Computer resources include multiple Sun SPARCs. Radiographic implant wear analysis software is also available, along with a radiograph scanner and digitizer.

Major equipment in the laboratory can establish the static and dynamic mechanical properties of biological and implanted material in response to torsion, compression and tension. Instrumentation includes Instron machines and EnduraTec servohydraulic test machines; contacting extensometers; Instron non-contacting video extensometer; environmental test chambers; acoustic emission data acquisition boards; Gaertner Traveling microscopes; Nikon transmitting and reflected light microscope with bright field, dark field, polarized light and camera attachments; Buehler polishing and grinding systems; Isomet low speed and high speed metallurgical saws; Zeiss stereomicroscopes, Leica stereomicroscopes; sliding and rotary microtomes; Denford Micromill tabletop CNC machine; vertical milling machine, lathes, band saws; surface grinder; density gradient columns with multiple glass float standards and automated filling and clearing assemblies; Rheometrics Solids Analyzer and Fluids Analyzer; Cartilage Indentation tester; General Electric portable X-ray machine; faxitron;  Bioquant image analysis system with macro and micro imaging capabilities for histomorphometric measurements, including statistical analysis.