Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The Bose BioDynamicTM Test Instrument requested in this application is a material-testing instrument that will extend the research capacities of the College of Engineering, the College of Medicine, and the Division of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in the areas of tissue engineering and nanoengineering. Our research objective is to advance the state-of-the-art of production of artificial organ and tissue substitutes that can be implanted in patients, ultimately providing a permanent solution to damaged organs or tissues. We need the proposed equipment to characterize a variety of specimens from our research, including biomaterials, acellular and cell-seeded scaffolds, native tissue samples, and tissue-engineered constructs, in the desired biological environment. By using axial loading, the requested instrument can measure and evaluate the mechanical properties (e.g. the elastic modulus) of specimens in a test chamber with a controllable biological environment. The key features of this equipment for our research include the capacity to: (1) precisely load specimens with very low forces and, (2) simulate a variety of biological conditions, as desired, for testing. This equipment will support the training, through research, of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) in a multidisciplinary area involving mechanical engineering, tissue engineering, biomedical engineering, and nanoengineering.