Final report

Dates and location

12 February — 16 February 2017, Burg Warberg, Germany

Chairperson

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Böl

Co-chairperson

Dr.-Ing. Alexander E. Ehret

What other funding was obtained?

What were the participants offered?

Scientific report

Accurate mechanical characterisation of soft biological tissues and the identification of suitable material
models is of high interest, not only for fundamental research, but also in many fields in life sciences and
medicine. One major problem concerns the measurement of these properties without damaging the
surrounding tissue or applying highly invasive techniques. Inverse numerical methods, where classical
forward finite element analyses are iteratively tuned so that they fit the experimental outcome are one
possibility to address this problem, and were in the focus of the Euromech Colloquium 534, held five
years ago. However, there are is a huge number of remaining and new open questions, when
identifying mechanical characteristics or material parameters from experiments on biological tissues.
The aim of the present Colloquium 585 was therefore to capture the advances in this field, with a
particularly focus on new types of experiments and measurement set-ups, and their combination with
computational methods.
This goal was clearly achieved: A variety of novel and promising experimental techniques were
presented that combine classical mechanical characterisation with advanced microscopy techniques,
bioreactor set-ups, dedicated loading protocols that provide different physical, chemical or biological
cues, and computational tools to control the systems and analyse the results. To interpret the
experimental outcome, advanced modelling and simulation approaches were proposed, bridging the
different scales, from the nano- over micro- to the macro-level.
The colloquium brought together experts coming from experimental, theoretical, biomedical, and clinical
research focusing on experimental soft tissue biomechanics, and young scientists from all related
areas. To support the participation of early stage researchers, three grants were awarded, including the
regular conference fee, hotel costs, and all meals. Both questions related to fundamental research, as
well as aspects related to medical applications were addressed during the colloquium.
Overall, the scientific program of the colloquium included 46 oral presentations, highlighting various
aspects in experimental methods in biomechanics reaching from experimental methods on cells and
single fibres over passive soft tissue and active muscle mechanics to methods used to identify
mechanical characteristics on whole organs. All contributions were followed by an intensive and
constructive discussion. Further, five of the presentations were provided as keynote lectures given by
international experts and providing overviews on recent advances in five focused areas.
During the colloquium a common understanding of current problems and possible solutions was
developed despite the different areas of expertise of the participants. This was facilitated by the
relatively small number of participants and by the colloquium venue, the medieval castle Burg Warberg,
which hosted all participants. This allowed an intensive scientific exchange during the talks but also
during coffee, lunch, and dinner breaks.
The scientific results presented at the colloquium were consistently of very high quality and will partly be
published in a peer reviewed special issue of the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical
Materials.