Date of Award
12-23-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Quantitative Approaches to Unravel the Mechanobiology of Cortical Folding by Ramin Balouchzadeh Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2024 Professor Philip V. Bayly, Chair Professor Kara E. Garcia, Co-Chair Brain development is a highly complex process driven by mechanical forces and material properties that shape the cerebral cortex’s characteristic gyri and sulci. Abnormalities in this folding pro?cess are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Despite significant advancements, the underlying mechanical principles governing brain morphogenesis remain incompletely understood. This body of work investigates three key aspects of brain de?velopment: stress-dependent growth, evolving tissue stiffness during cortical folding, and residual stress distribution. This done through the following aims: (1) Precisely quantifying the trajectory of cortical folding in computational simulations with hyperelastic behavior or stress-mediated growth; (2) Characterizing the viscoelastic mechanical properties of the ferret brain, from postnatal day 8 to 39 using rheology; and (3) Quantifying the residual stresses in grey and white matter of the brain using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of excised samples of brain tissue.
Language
English (en)
Chair
Philip Bayly
Committee Members
Kara Garcia; Amit Pathak; Christopher Kroenke; Jeffrey Neil; Jessica Wagenseil