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Welcome to the website of the Biomechanics Department of the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Biomechanics Department is one of the most active, well-equipped and experienced biomechanics departments nationwide, which annually admits talented students in its doctoral and master’s programs. It does have 11 faculty members, 7 of which are main members and 4 are associate members. Also, the Biomechanics Department currently has 7 Ph.D. candidates and 76 students for the master’s degree, 32 of which are associated to the university second campus; Biomechanics Department is one of the most active departments of the university having educational-research activities in the second campus.

The research activities of the members cover various fields, including biomechatronics, medical and cognitive robotics, instrumentation of medical devices, rehabilitation, biomechanics of biofluids, microfluidics, and biomechanics of hard and soft tissues. There are several Research Laboratories doing research in the abovementioned research fields such as “Tissue Engineering and Biological Systems”, “Biomechatronics and Cognitive Engineering (BACE Lab”, “Sensors and Integrated Biomicrofluidic/MEMS laboratory (SIBlab)”, “Biodynamics”, “Robotics” and “Applied Multiphase Fluid Dynamics”. “Physiology, Anatomy, and Medical Instrumentation”, the dedicated educational laboratory of the department, provides suitable research space for students and allows research to be done at the cutting edge of modern science. The results of the research works performed by faculty members and laboratories are carried out continuously in the form of patents in national and international forums, publishing scientific books and articles in prestigious journals, carrying out industrial projects to solve the country’s problems and helping to advance its lofty goals.

The faculty members of the group have had important collaborations with the Faculty of Pharmacy of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, as well as the Research Institute of Liver and Gastroenterology of that university in the field of disease identification and diagnosis. In addition, several collaborations have been carried out with Taleghani Hospital, Royan Center and Tehran Heart Hospital, in the form of projects in the field of heart as well as assistive devices for blood supply and so on. Also, during the past years, the members of this group have cooperated with Imam Khomeini Hospital in the field of bone and spine issues as well as the treatment of cancerous tumors by hyperthermia.

Borhan Beigzadeh
Department Head

Biomechanics Research Fields

Hard/Soft Tissue Biomechanics

One of the main goals of research in the field of tissue biomechanics is to describe the mechanical and physical properties of healthy tissues and to recognize their behavior in the event of injury. Conducting experiments along with the development of software models and simulation of physical and mechanical properties of tissues can help achieve this goal. In the field of hard tissue, our main focus is on bone tissue. Bone is described as biologically live material and a biological system. This tissue is alive, and from the strength of materials, bone is a biological substance. Also, the non-uniform composition of the bone in different layers takes it out of a normal material with uniform properties, prompting us to consider arrangements for its accurate modeling. The application of such studies for the repair and injury healing will be important in application areas including orthopedic surgery (such as what we have in spinal surgery), the use of bone cement in treatment, and dentistry. The study of soft tissue behavior is also important. Our body is constantly involved in mechanical interactions; from bearing the weight and blood pressure to daily physical activities and interactions. When this leads to injuries that need to be treated, research in the field of soft tissue biomechanics can be essentially critical for physicians in the healing process. Computer models of treatment or study of the behavior of implants or behavioral evaluation of soft tissue repairs during treatments are cases that require careful study of soft tissue biomechanics.

Biofluidics

Biofluidics is a broad field of study that involves the movement of fluid in and out of living organisms. Modeling the human circulatory system includes many interesting challenges in understanding the principles and modeling the flow of biological fluids. Blood is distributed as a non-Newtonian fluid through a network of arteries with flexible walls, in which its interaction with the walls of arteries raises important issues in biomechanics. Coronary artery disease is primarily caused by these interactions, the treatment of which is highly dependent on the study of these behaviors. In addition, capillaries raise the issue of the exchange of oxygen, nutrients, and wastes that are transported or excreted from body tissues. This is also crucial in the treatment of tumors that naturally feed on blood, and therefore the hemodynamic behavior of blood and interstitial fluids must be carefully considered in the drug delivery process. In fluid biomechanics, by analyzing blood flow in the cardiovascular system, effective pathobiological factors can be studied and solutions can be found to control widespread cardiovascular diseases or to make intravenous therapies. It is also possible to study the important mechanisms of heat transfer or mass transfer in biological organs in the drug transfer process or cold and heat therapy.

Bioinstrumentation

Bioinstrumentation is one of the medical engineering applications that focuses on devices and systems used for measurement, evaluation and treatment in biological systems. This field of research is new and growing and serves as an infrastructure for other fields of research in medical engineering. Also, medical equipment and modern technologies in hospital diagnostic and treatment devices are all active areas of research and development. The majority of developmental research and innovation in this field has occurred in the last 15-20 years. Non-invasive imaging devices and sensors, along with intelligent methods and tools, have revolutionized medicine and made it much easier to treat patients.

Biomechanics and Biorobotics

Biomechatronics is an interdisciplinary applied research field in which the two fields of biology and mechatronics are combined; similarly, the fields of robotics and neuroscience also play an important role in biomechatronics. In biomechatronics, we often look to see how the organs of the body behave naturally, and we try to design a system that behaves similarly, in detail. Sensors and biosensors, actuators, and controllers are usually designed to behave like humans and are “nature-inspired.” Biomechatronic devices and systems cover a wide range; including artificial limbs (inactive and active orthoses and prostheses), systems for studying the behavior of the brain in response to external stimuli, diagnostic and treatment systems for cognitive diseases, robotic surgery systems, intelligent and robotic rehabilitation systems, and other related systems.