Profile

Functional properties of tissues are highly dependent on their microstructure. For example, electrical conduction of the myocardium and mechanical coupling in the intervertebral disc are mediated by their respective fiber architecture. Our research is devoted to (a) the development of nondestructive techniques to quantitatively assess tissue microstructure, and (b) the integration of structure and morphologically-accurate models of tissue function. A promising approach is to combine high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor visualization. The latter is sensitive to the anisotropic diffusion of water present in ordered tissues.