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Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University

 

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Marjolein van der Meulen
Professor
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Research Group Web Page: Biomechanics Group Address: 219 Upson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
(607) 255-1445
(607) 255-1222
mcv3-at-cornell.edu

The skeleton is a load bearing structure, like many common man-made structures. However, unlike metals and other inert materials, bone tissue is a living organ composed of cells in mineralized matrix. These cells create the tissue and enable the structure to respond to a variety of genetic and epigenetic factors. One of the primary epigenetic regulatory factors is the mechanical environment, the stresses and strains, to which the skeleton is subjected during use. Traditionally, biomechanics has focused on examining the material and structural properties of living tissues, both in their normal and diseased states. This approach is primarily one of mechanics and is relevant to understanding the load bearing ability of tissues. Dr. van der Meulen’s work in this area focuses on understanding the role of tissue mechanical behavior on skeletal structural performance, as well as the role of particular tissue constituents (growth factors and other matrix molecules) on whole bone function. Recently, interest has refocused on the other side of the problem: understanding how mechanical forces influence skeletal structure. This new area has been termed “mechanobiology” to emphasize the modulation of biological processes by mechanical stimuli. This latter area is of particular interest to Professor van der Meulen. Her laboratory works extensively on in vivo models of skeletal adaptation to mechanical stimuli and methods to assess this adaptation. <

Current Projects
  • Loading overcomes osteopenia from sex hormone withdrawal (NIH/NIA)
  • Role of microstructure in nanomechanical behavior of bone tissue (NIH/NAIMS)
  • FT-IR microscopy of mineral structure in osteoporosis (PI: Boskey, HSS, NIH/NIAMS)
  • Multi-keV x-ray microscopy facility for bio-imaging (PI: Pianetta, SSRL, NIH/NIBIB)
  • The effects of mechanical compression on fracture healing
  • Enhancing bone formation in compromised cancellous bone (PI: Bostrom, HSS, OREF)
  • CU-ADVANCE Center (Co-Investigator, NSF-funded)
Selected Publications

van der Meulen MCH, Morey-Holton ER, Carter DR
"Hindlimb suspension results in diminished femoral growth in the rat," J Orthop Res 13: 700–707, 1995.

Moro M, van der Meulen MCH, Kiratli BJ, Marcus R, Bachrach LK, Carter DR
"Body mass is the primary determinant of mid-femoral bone acquisition during adolescence," Bone 19: 519–526, 1996

van der Meulen MCH, Huiskes R
"Why mechanobiology? A survey article," J Biomechanics 35: 401–414, 2002

Boskey AL, van der Meulen MCH, Wright TM
"Editorial: Guidelines for describing mouse skeletal phenotype," J Orthop Res 21: 1-5, 2003

Bailón-Plaza A, van der Meulen MCH
"Beneficial effects of moderate, early loading and adverse effects of delayed or excessive loading on bone healing," J Biomech 36: 1069–1077, 2003

Bourne BC, van der Meulen MCH
"Finite element models predict cancellous apparent modulus when tissue modulus is scaled from specimen CT-attenuation," J Biomech 37: 613–621, 2004

Globus RK, Nishimura Y, Amblard D, Iwaniec U, Kim J-B, Almeida EAC, Damsky CD, Wronski TJ, van der Meulen MCH
“Skeletal phenotype of growing transgenic mice that express a function-perturbing form of b1 integrin in osteoblasts," Calcif Tissue Int 76: 39-49, 2004

Cole JH, Scerpella TM, van der Meulen MCH
"Fan-beam densitometry of the growing skeleton: Are we measuring what we think we are?," J Clin Dens 8: 57-64, 2005

Tommasini SM, Morgan TG, van der Meulen MCH, Jepsen KJ
“Genetic variation in structure-function relationships for the inbred mouse lumbar vertebral body," J Bone Miner Res 20: 817-827, 2005

Fritton JC, Myers ER, Wright TM, van der Meulen MCH
“Increased mineral content in the proximal metaphysis after axial compression of the C57BL/6 mouse tibia," Bone 36: 1030-1038, 2005

van der Meulen MCH, Morgan TG, Yang X, Baldini TH, Myers ER, Wright TM, Bostrom MPG
“Cancellous bone adaptation to in vivo loading in a rabbit model," Bone 38: 871–877, 2006

Donnelly E, Williams RM, Downs SA, Dickinson ME, Baker SP, van der Meulen MCH
“Quasistatic and dynamic nanomechanical properties of cancellous bone tissue relate to collagen content and organization," J Mater Res 21: 2106–2117, 2006

Biography

Before joining the faculty at Cornell, van der Meulen worked for three years as a biomedical engineer at the Rehabilitation R&D Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in Palo Alto, California. As a graduate student at Stanford University, she received a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Fellowship and her experiments were conducted at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. In 1995 she received an NIH FIRST Award and in 1999 an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award. In 2008 she was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She has presented her research at the 1997 NAE Frontiers of Engineering Symposium and the Gordon Conferences for Bioengineering and Orthopaedic Science, Ceramics and Biomineralization. van der Meulen is a member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the American and European Societies of Biomechanics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Orthopaedic Research Society.

Education
Ph.D. 1993 - Stanford University
M.S. 1989 - Stanford University
S.B. 1987 - MIT