About the Biomesh.org Project

The goals of Biomesh.org are to:

Bridge technical gaps between biologists and engineers by providing knowledge and training in finite element modeling and analysis of complex biological structures.
Provide resources to the biological community in the form of finite elementa subdivision within the material that is relatively simple in shape, such as a tetrahedral or hexahedral, defined by vertices called nodes. models, a material properties database, and software tools.
Promote the integration of biology and engineering by facilitating research, education, and outreach.

Contacts

Primary Contact:	Secondary Contact:
Dr. Betsy Dumont Biology – UMass Amherst 221 Morrill Science Center Amherst MA 01003 Phone: 413 545 3565 Fax: 413 545 3243 bdumont@bio.umass.edu	Dr. Ian Grosse Mechanical & Industrial Engineering – UMass Amherst 220 Engineering Laboratory Amherst, MA 01003 Phone: 413 545 1350 Fax: 413 545 1027 grosse@ecs.umass.edu

Sponsors

The National Science Foundation Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) supports activities that provide the infrastructure for contemporary research in biology.These include research resources and human resources. Programs encourage innovative approaches to enable modern biological research and to provide the breadth of human resources necessary to conduct this research.

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The Strand7 Finite Element AnalysisAnalysis of the physical behavior of a finite element model. In this analysis a given physical "treatment" is applied (such as force loading on some elements), followed by computation of the effects of this treatment on other elements of the FEM. More specifically, the analysis phase involves solving a set of simultaneous algebraic equations in which the unknown variables that are solved for in this system of equations are the unknown nodal degrees of freedom. Once the values of the unknown nodal degrees of freedom are found, the unknown reaction forces are determined. Next, the spatial variation of the primary field variables within each element is computed using the element's predefined interpolating polynomials and the element’s nodal values. Thus, for solid elements this results in mathematical functions that completely define the displacement field within every finite element. These functions are then differentiated to obtain the complete strain field within each element which, when combined with known material properties of the element, yields the element stress field. In summary, the finite element solution will yield 1) the reaction forces necessary to maintain static equilibrium of the system, 2) the displacement field ( i.e. displacements of the material through out the 3-D domain), the complete strain tensor field, and the complete stress tensor field. System is a totally new software development, designed to take full advantage of the Windows® environment. As a compliant Win32 application, Strand7 makes use of all hardware resources available to it under Windows®. This includes full use of all available RAM (both physical and virtual), use of accelerated graphics card features, and printing to any Windows®-supported device. With it's sensible pricing structure, Strand7 is within easy reach of academic community.

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A product of Materialise, Mimics can import any 2D stack of images and allows 3D reconstruction from them. Mimics imports images like CT, TechCT, MRI and Microscopy data in a wide variety of formats. Remaining extremely intuitive and easy to learn software, Mimics provides very powerful features. A range of segmentation tools allow you to select a region of interest. Within a few clicks this part is transformed into a 3D model on which real time rotation, pan, zoom and transparency functions can be applied.

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Visual Communication among distributed workforce is becoming critically important in improving productivity and quality. VCollab's solutions address these issues and provide a state of the art common Visual Collaboration platform for viewing 3D information, in particular CAD, CAM, and CAE data, for the manufacturing industry. These solutions are designed to dramatically reduce the burden of communicating 3D data and eliminates the need for domain specific authoring tools, breaking down communication barriers.

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The Research Leadership in Action (RLA)

program is an internal grant competition sponsored by the Vice Provost for Research for full-time UMass Amherst tenure-track and research faculty. The program supports faculty interested in showcasing leadership in their field of research and scholarly activity. 2005 was the program's inaugural year.

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For more information on becoming a biomesh.org sponsor, please contact Betsy Dumont or Ian Grosse.