Dr. Deva Chan

Areas of Research

Orthopaedic biomechanics and mechanobiology, biomedical imaging

Projects

Understanding the early tissue response to injury is critical to diagnosis, assessment, and intervention in life-altering orthopedic diseases, including post-traumatic osteoarthritis. True to our biomedical engineering roots, the Chan Musculoskeletal Research and Innovation (MRI) Lab adopts a multi-disciplinary approach - biomechanics, imaging, and matrix biology - to quantify this complexity in health, injury, and repair processes.

We have openings for the following projects:

Mechanobiology of extracellular matrix synthesis: Progenitor cells of the synovial joint produce hyaluronan and other ECM molecules to provide compressive strength, support lubrication, and otherwise respond to injury. This project aims to elucidate how biomechanical stimuli regulates hyaluronan metabolism and, in turn, the mechanical function and biological processes in the synovial joint.
 
Hyaluronan biology in the healthy and post-traumatic synovial joint: Despite the ubiquity of hyaluronan in tissues and fluids of the body, it’s mechanobiological mechanisms and functions within several tissues of the synovial joint remain poorly understood. This project aims to understand how alterations to hyaluronan synthesis and turnover disrupt musculoskeletal growth, maintenance, and injury response.

 

Projects are also available in ongoing collaborative directions!

  • Preclinical models of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (with multiple investigators at IU School of Medicine)
  • Biomedical imaging to evaluate orthopedic disease (with Dr. Chad Carroll) and human performance rehabilitation and augmentation using passive and active wearables and haptics (Dr. Laura Blumenschein)
  • Computational biology for mouse-to-human translation in orthopedic disease (with Dr. Douglas Brubaker)

Recruitment Needs

Creative and versatile self-starters from diverse technical and personal backgrounds to contribute to our team as MS or PhD students in Fall 2023.

Please feel free to contact Dr. Chan directly.

Email: chand@purdue.edu

Website: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChanLab