• Collagen Quantification

    In preparation to correlate collagen with vitreoretinal adhesion, regional collagen is currently being quantified using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and histology.

  • Human Infant FEM

    Anatomy plays a crucial role in prediction of injury during inertial head motion. In collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, we are currently working on a high resolution finite element model for predicting skull fracture and intracranial injury.

  • Vitreous Dynamic Properties

    Using dynamic spectral interconversion, we are able to overcome inherent challenges such as inertial artifacts and rapid decomposition.

  • Microstructure Visualization

    Three-dimensional volumetric representation of the subarachnoid space. The arachnoid trabeculae (yellow) and a subarachnoid blood vessel (red) were segmented from a series of OCT images within the cortical surface of the porcine brain.

  • Injury Biomechanics Lab Members

    The Developmental Injury Biomechanics Lab could not exist without the dedication and hard work of the students and staff. We have a fabulous group that enjoys interacting both inside and outside of the lab.

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Utah Head Trauma Lab

The biological structures of the head and eye are continually changing with age. Rapid growth and development in young children, and rapid degradation in the elderly, makes identification of age-dependent structural and mechanical properties crucial to understanding patient specific injury and disease. In the Utah Head Trauma Lab, we explore the microscopic and macroscopic structure of the head and eye at different stages of development. We use principals of engineering to characterize the biomechanical response of these structures to injury and disease. These data not only help us understand the initiation of injury and disease, but also allow us to design and implement accurate and complex computer models that can accelerate the development of age-appropriate injury prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies for traumatic brain and ocular injury.

Student Spotlight

Nathan Bartlett

Nathan Bartlett

Name:  Nathan Bartlett Hometown:  Las Vegas Previous Degrees, Institutions:  BS (in progress), University of Utah, Bioengineering Research Interests/Project:  Three-dimensional analysis of skull fracture patterns Interests outside of Research: Baseball, skiing, hiking, weightlifting, running, and basketball Honors/Awards: Recipient of the Academic Achievement, Utah Heritage, and Utah Legacy Scholarships 15 minutes of fame:  I was the MVP of the championship game for my high school state tourn... Read More

Recent Activity

New Project to Investigate Progressive PAC Damage

Dr. Coats recently received NSF funding to investigate progresssive damage at the brain-skull interface. The study involves high-rate testing and imaging of repeated loading in the subarachnoid…

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Lizzie Rocks UROP Symposium

Congratulations to Elizabeth (Lizzie) Su for a successful UROP research experience and presentation!  Lizzie used convolutional neural networks to predict injury prior to standard methods of detection. …

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Acoustic Warnings Reduce Head Trauma

Congratulations to Mohammad Homayounpour, PhD Graduate of Dr. Andrew Merryweather’s Ergonomics and Safety group on his publication Cervical muscle activation characteristic and head kinematics in males…

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In Situ Mechanics of the Subarachnoid Space

Congratulations to PhD Graduate Nik Benko on his publication Mechanical characterization of the human pia-arachnoid complex published in the Journal of Mechanical Behavior and Biomedical Materials. In this…

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Impact Angle and Fall Height Effect Skull Fracture Patterns

Congratulations to Jiawei Yan on his recent publication The effect of impact angle and fall height on skujl fracture patterns in infants published in the Journal of Biomechanical…

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