Towards standardized and validated test protocols for mechanical characterization of biological tissue.

Quantitative characterization of the mechanical behavior of biological tissue is crucial to understand mechanics-related pathologies (aneurysm formation, osteoporosis,…), to design medical implants and to develop novel disease treatment strategies. Unlike for non-biological tissues such as polymers and metals, standardized test protocols don’t yet exist for the mechanical testing of biological materials. As such, approaches, if even reported in literature, vary widely throughout the complete workflow of biological tissue characterization. This leads to suboptimal use and makes it difficult to compare experimental findings from different research groups, as well as to compare the quality of competing biotech products. Therefore, this research focuses on the development, standardization and validation of testing and data processing methodologies and is crucial for the future of Flanders Institute for Biomechanical Experimentation (FIBEr).