Manuel Zündel

ETH Zurich | ETH Zürich · Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering

Objective: To evaluate the host- and biomechanical response to a fully absorbable poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (P4HB) scaffold in comparison with the response to polypropylene (PP) mesh. Design: In vivo animal experiment. Setting: KU Leuven Center for Surgical Technologies. Population: Fourteen parous female Mule sheep. Methods: P4HB scaffolds w...

The original version of this Article contained errors in the ‘Computational material models’ section of the Methods in which some values were displayed with incorrect units. As a result of this, a number of changes have been made to both the PDF and the HTML versions of the Article. A full description of these changes is available online and can be...

Fracture toughness characterizes the ability of a material to maintain a certain level of strength despite the presence of a macroscopic crack. Understanding this tolerance for defects in soft collagenous tissues (SCT) has high relevance for assessing the risks of fracture after cutting, perforation or suturing. Here we investigate the peculiar tou...

Despite major technological advances within the field of cardiovascular engineering, the risk of thromboembolic events on artificial surfaces in contact with blood remains a major challenge and limits the functionality of ventricular assist devices (VAD) during mid- or long-term therapy. Here, a biomimetic blood-material interface is created via a...

In contrast to homogeneous materials, the mechanical properties of fibrous substrates depend on the probing lengthscale. This suggests that cells feel very different mechanical cues than expected from the macroscale characterisation of the substrate materials. By means of multiscale computational analyses we study here the mechanical environment of...

In this contribution, a full 3D finite element model of electrospun networks is presented. The model explicitly accounts for the specific microstructure of these networks by generating representative volume elements through a particular fibre deposition method inspired by the process of network formation during electrospinning. The modelled fibre m...

Abstract: Background: There is an urgent need to develop better materials that provide anatomical support to the pelvic floor without compromising function. Objective: Our aim was to assess outcomes after simulated vaginal prolapse repair in a sheep model, using three different materials: (1) ultra-light-weight polypropylene (PP) non-degradable tex...

Understanding the mechanisms of deformation of biological materials is important for improved diagnosis and therapy, fundamental investigations in mechanobiology, and applications in tissue engineering. Here we demonstrate the essential role of interstitial fluid mobility in determining the mechanical properties of soft tissues. Opposite to the beh...

In this paper, a discrete random network modelling approach specific to electrospun networks is presented. Owing to the manufacturing process, fibres in these materials systems have an enormous length, as compared to their diameters, and form sparse networks since fibre contact over thickness is limited to a narrow range. Representative volume elem...

Purpose: Electrospun meshes may be considered as substitutes to textile polypropylene implants. We compared the host response and biomechanical properties of the rat abdominal wall following reinforcement with either polycaprolactone (PCL) modified with ureidopyrimidinone-motifs (UPy) or polypropylene mesh. Methods: First we measured the respons...

Methods summarized by the term Traction Force Microscopy are widely used to quantify cellular forces in mechanobiological studies. These methods are inverse, in the sense that forces must be determined such that they comply with a measured displacement field. This study investigates how several experimental and analytical factors, originating in th...

The mechanical wiring between cells and their surroundings is fundamental to the regulation of complex biological processes during tissue development, repair or pathology. Traction force microscopy (TFM) enables determination of the actuating forces. Despite progress, important limitations with intrusion effects in low resolution 2D pillar-based me...

Supplementary Figures 1-10, Supplementary Methods and Supplementary References

Migrating HUVEC on red cTFM platform (inter-disc spacing: 1.5 μm). Cell und nucleus outline (based on brightfield image) were superimposed. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Electrohydrodynamic nanodrip-printing of fluorescent quantum dot nanodiscs. Scale bar: 5 μm

Relaxation of the elastic silicone upon cell removal. HeLa cells were seeded on a red cTFM platform (inter-disc spacing: 1.5 μm). Upon imaging, cells were detached from the substrate by adding 0.01% sodium dodecyl sulfate to the medium, followed by imaging the same region again. Scale bar: 10 μm.

Mesh relaxation. Reconstruction of the original mesh and QD nanodisc's original positions through relaxation of the deformed mesh. Colorbar: 1 corresponds to maximum deformation of the triangles in the mesh and 0 to perfectly equilateral triangles. Red dots indicate QD nanodiscs whose positions are fixed as boundary for the relaxation.

The commercial polydimethysiloxane elastomer 184 with mixing ratio 10:1 is in wide use for biomedical research or fundamental studies of mechanobiology. In this paper, a comprehensive study of the large strain mechanical behavior of this material under multiaxial monotonic and cyclic loads, and its change during the first 26 days after preparation...

In this paper, we report on the wave transmission characteristics of a hybrid one dimensional (1D) medium. The hybrid characteristic is the result of the coupling between a 1D mechanical waveguide in the form of an elastic beam, supporting the propagation of transverse waves and a discrete electrical transmission line, consisting of a series of ind...

Morphing airfoils promise advances in performance and efficiency when compared to conventional designs. However, the conflict of requirements between compliance and stiffness, which is characteristic of shape-adaptable structures, often leads to compromise-driven solutions. This article presents the concept of a variable-camber airfoil with adjusta...

Morphing airfoils promise advances in performance and efficiency when compared to conventional designs. However, the conflict of requirements between compliance and stiffness, that is characteristic of shape-adaptable structures, often leads to compromise-driven solutions. This article presents the concept of a variable-camber airfoil with adjustab...

This work reports on the adoption of electric fields to tune the mechanical behaviour of structural elements. A mechanical characterization procedure, consisting of double lap joint and 3-point bending tests, is conducted on copper-polyimide laminates while applying electric fields of varying intensity. Field dependence and, thus, adaptability of s...