Amin Komeili, PhD

My research on cartilage biomechanics aims to discover physical activities and loading conditions that promote chondrocytes biosynthesis and proteoglycan production in the treatment of OA. My research on cartilage mechanobiology involves computational and experimental models to study knee joint function.

Biomedical Diagnostic and Imaging:
The pathology of OA is still unclear, and there is no effective treatment to modify OA. In clinical applications, OA is diagnosed through medical images, mainly MRI. However, manual segmentation of knee cartilage from MRI images takes hours for a reader. Dr. Komeili’s team focuses on using data mining and machine learning methods to explore the information contained in MRI images that may help monitor the progression of OA.

Tissue Mechanics:
 Mechanical stimuli, such as stresses and strains, are induced by physical activities and regulate articular cartilage (AC) homeostasis. However, clinicians and researchers still do not know what type and level of mechanical loads are safe and effective in reducing the risk of AC degeneration. We do not have adequate tools to measure and predict how physical activities at the joint level deform AC chondrocytes at the cellular level. Our lab develops experimental apparatus and employs novel microscopy techniques to measure the local deformations of chondrocyte and extracellular matrix at different zones in native AC under dynamic loading conditions. Our multiscale approach allows us to study the microscale deformations of ECM near a microscale crack in AC and elucidate the mechanism of crack propagation in cartilage.