Raffaella De Vita
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, VA·Biomedical Engineering
Pregnancy and childbirth put enormous mechanical demands on the body. When reproductive tissues fail mechanically, the results can be serious.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Physiology
- Topics
reproductive biomechanics
women's health
pregnancy
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Characterize the mechanical interplay of the uterus, cervix and vagina in mice, in living animals and removed tissue, using biaxial inflation testing with digital image correlation, multiphoton microscopy, 3D ultrasound and MRI.
- Develop a constitutive framework, mathematical rules for tissue deformation, describing reproductive organ mechanics and their remodeling during pregnancy and postpartum.
- Build and validate finite element models of the female pelvic system during pregnancy and childbirth, aiming for a non-invasive method to detect risk.
More about the research
Most birth injuries come from excessive tissue stretching, spontaneous preterm birth is linked to loss of tissue integrity, and pelvic floor disorders, which affect a quarter of women, follow from weakened tissue support. U.S. maternal mortality is rising, about 500,000 babies are born preterm each year, and rates are higher among African Americans. This multi-investigator project applies experimental, theoretical and computational mechanics to these problems.
Why it matters
Better mechanical understanding of the uterus, cervix and vagina could help address birth injuries, preterm birth and pelvic floor disorders. Simulation tools validated against experimental data may offer a non-invasive way to detect pregnancy- and childbirth-related risks. Clinicians and engineers working on women's reproductive health could use the resulting methods, models and simulations.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Cherice Hill
University of Rochester, NY·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Measure mechanical properties, such as stiffness, of the human temporomandibular lateral capsule-ligament (LCL) complex, and test for differences between females and males and between African American and white donors.
Ranajay Ghosh
University of Central Florida, FL·Engineering·Early-career
Test whether concentrated salt solutions give green strength to oxide and nitride ceramic powder beds through ion transport and particle bridging during wetting and drying, using mechanical testing, microscopy and x-ray imaging.
Mauro Rodriguez
Brown University, RI·Engineering
Develop a method to make linearly graded hydrogels whose stiffness is tuned with ultraviolet light, to serve as model non-uniform soft materials.
The school
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $657M a year on research, 496 research doctorates a year.
More about Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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