Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory

The Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory has in-house facilities for experimental and numerical studies of tissue and whole body biomechanics as well as implant systems.

Equipment
Material and tissue testing facilities:

• Computer- controlled uniaxial electromechanical material testing system (Instron 5544) with various load cells and jigs for tension, compression and bending (3,4-point) loading modes
• Computer-controlled pendulum impact test system (Instron Dynatup POE2000e)
• Pneumatic stress-relaxation testing system
• Strain gauges, amplifiers and acquisition system; High-precision electromechanical indentor

Whole body biomechanics:

• Below-knee prosthesis with phantom of the residual limb instrumented to measure limb-prosthesis contact pressures for various knee loading conditions
• Pressure mat (Tactilus sensor products Co.) for sitting pressure measurements.
• 2 Pressure pads (Tactilus sensor products Co.) for lower-limb prosthetic-users.
• Contact pressure measurement sensors (FlexiForce, Tekscan Co.) and data acquisition system, including sensor circuits, amplifiers, and sampling (A/D) boards
• Electronic goniometers and sampling circuits
• CCD cameras, video system and monitors for analysis of posture and motion kinematics
• 12-channel BIOPAC EMG amplifier system and surface electrodes
• Treadmill; Wheelchair; Various precision weights (e.g. 5, 10, 20 Kg)

Light microscope facilities:
Transmitted and reflected light microscope; CCD camera-based image acquisition system, fully integrated with our computers, including image analysis software

Bone processing facilities:
Drill press, rotating diamond saw, storage refrigerator and freezer, digital scale (resolution: 0.01g) and Chemical hood

Electronics:
Digital and analogue oscilloscopes, pulse generators, power supplies, amplifiers, universal multi-tester, soldering tools

Computers:

Computational facilities for image processing and high-performance computation including several PC-based workstations, connected through a local network and to the campus network and high-speed Internet via Ethernet connections

Software:

• SolidWorks 2008 for geometry reconstruction and solid modeling
• ABAQUS 6.8; MATLAB; LABVIEW 8.5; Photoshop; Adobe Acrobat Writer
• NASTRAN 2005 for finite element analysis; Visual Studio (C++ developer package)
• Various packages for word processing, statistical analysis, graph plotting, and slide preparation

Peripheral Hardware:

30, 60 and 80 GB portable backup hard-disks; 3 scanners, one equipped for X-ray, CT and MRI films; CD-ROM writers; Networked laser and color printers

Cell and tissue culturing facilities

We have full access to shared departmental facilities for cell and tissue culturing, including 5 laminar flow cabinets, 3 biological-chemical hoods, 6 incubators, refrigerators and -20, -70°C freezers, optical microscopes and a Western blot, advanced light microscopes with full image capture abilities, and a fluorescent microscope.

Contact Person:

Prof. Amit Gefen

Department of Biomedical Engineering
The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Multi-disciplinary building
Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
Phone: +972-3-6408093 | Fax: +972-3-6405845
E-mail:gefen@eng.tau.ac.il | Link:http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~msbm/

Project manager

avi Wener
Research services

Project researchers

Amit Gefen
T.A.U Tel Aviv University, Engineering
Bio-Medical Engineering