Tendon Stress Apparatus

Tendons are collagenous tissues that transfer forces from muscle to bone. Tendons have poor healing capabilities and can be easily injured due to overuse. In order to develop therapies for preventing injury and improving regeneration more knowledge must be gained on how mechanical forces influence tendon cell behavior.

Problem Definition
Our client has designed and built a mechanical bioreactor controlled by Labview to test mechanical properties of soft tissues such as tendon. Currently the client is able to measure the force applied to the tissue and the displacement between the grips holding the tissue. Our objective is to develop and design a non-contacting video system to measure the strain within soft biologic tissues in real time and improve the capability of the system already in place.

Project Requirements and Goals
 * Camera resolution: less than 1 mm, between 0.5 mm and 1 cm is optimal
 * LabView must link to and utilize the non-contacting video system
 * The system will be placed inside and incubator so all components must be hardened to humidity, moisture, and heat
 * Our system must work for the length of time that a test will run which can be multiple hours.

Background
Tendons are the tissues are responsible for transferring forces between muscle and bone. Tendon injuries are quite common among athletes, with causes ranging from chronic overuse to acute tears. The regenerative process for tendons can take over a year and often complete regeneration does not occur. This has led to a demand in clinical alternatives for replacement. ​Before mechanical tissue replacements can be engineered, more data is needed on the mechanical and biological factors that govern tendon injury and regeneration.

Project Learning
As our project progresses in development, we solve one problem after another. The following is a categorical breakdown of the project learning for each major conceptual milestone.

Programing
Matlab

Labview

Final Product
Camera

Matlab

LabView

Mounting

Resources and Documentation

The teams meeting minutes can be found here (link)