Skip to main content
  • Paul Scherrer Institut PSI
  • PSI Research, Labs & User Services

Digital User Office

  • Digital User Office
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)
Search
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)

Hauptnavigation

  • Research at PSIOpen mainmenu item
    • Research Initiatives
    • Ethics and Research integrity
    • Scientific Highlights
    • Scientific Events
    • Scientific Career
    • PSI-FELLOW
    • PSI Data Policy
  • Research Divisions and LabsOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Research with Neutrons and Muons
    • Photon Science
    • Energy and Environment
    • Nuclear Energy and Safety
    • Biology and Chemistry
    • Scientific Computing, Theory and Data
    • Large Research Facilities
  • Facilities and InstrumentsOpen mainmenu item
    • Overview
    • Large Research Facilities
    • Facilities
    • PSI Facility Newsletter
  • PSI User ServicesOpen mainmenu item
    • User Office
    • Methods at the PSI User Facilities
    • Proposals for beam time
    • Proposal Deadlines
    • Data Analysis Service (PSD)
    • EU support programmes
  • New ProjectsOpen mainmenu item
    • SLS 2.0
    • IMPACT
  • DE
  • EN
  • FR

Digital User Office (mobile)

  • Digital User Office

You are here:

  1. PSI Home
  2. Labs & User Services
  3. PSD
  4. LSC
  5. SMAM
  6. Research
  7. Biological Tissue

Secondary navigation

Structure and Mechanics of Advanced Materials

  • People
  • Research Expanded submenu item
    • Additive Manufacturing
    • Alignment in flow
    • Biological Tissue
    • In situ mechanical testing
    • Polymer Material
    • Tensor Tomography
  • Infrastructure
    • Selective Laser Melting
    • Deformation rigs
      • Micro Tensile Machine
      • Tension/Compression Module
      • Mini biaxial tensile machine
      • Meso biaxial tensile machine
      • Micro Shear Device
      • Micro Compression Device
  • Publications
  • Scientific Highlights
Mgimplant

Structure and Mechanics of Biological Tissue

Many biological tissue are hierarchical materials with structures spanning from meters down to atomic scales. Small- angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) imaging is in particular valuable for such heterogeneous samples. The SAXS patterns provide statistical information about the nanostructure in each scan point, thus this method is complementary to high-resolution imaging techniques, such as electron microscopy. The information extracted from each scattering pattern can be used to create images with different contrast, such as density of nano-scale features or orientation of nanostructures. With wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) orientation and length scales of crystalline planes can be simultaneously obtained. SAXS/WAXS tensor tomography allows to study the inside of three-dimensional samples. In many biological tissues, adding X-ray fluorescence as additional modality for elemental contrast is highly valuable. The SMAM group is investigating a broad range of biological tissues in various national and international collaborations.

Structure of regenerating bone in and around implants and scaffolds

In bone research the mineral structure parameters relevant for the mechanical properties, such as crystallite size and orientation can be obtained from SAXS. The investigation in three-dimensional samples using SAXS tensor tomography allows for an increased understanding of the bone response to the implant materials which we are investigating in various collaboration.

Contribution of Bone Tissue Properties to Strength of the Ageing Human Hip

Osteoporosis is a silent metabolic bone disease reducing bone mass and leading to increased rates of bone fractures. Despite the dominant role of mass in bone mechanical properties, optimal clinical and societal management of osteoporosis requires a better understanding of the role of multiscale biophysical and biomechanical properties of the bone matrix in fracture incidence.

The aim of this project is to apply multi-scale imaging from the whole bone down to the micron level. State-of-the-art biophysical and micro-mechanical experiments will be performed on human tissue to identify the key determinants of fracture resistance. The mechanical response and failure characteristics of bone will be measured with high accuracy in order to retrieve tissue micromechanical properties using an inverse finite-element methodology.

SNF funded project in collaboration with University Bern and Empa.

Narwhal Tusks: A Tale with a Twist

Narwhal tusk is a rare form of external dentitions which show a left-handed spiral. Like other biological materials, the tusk has an impressive hierarchical structure from the atomic scale to the meter which we aim to characterize using a combination of SAXS and WAXS tensor tomography and X-ray phase contrast tomography. In addition, narwhal tusks grow throughout the animal’s life, where signatures of prey items and environmental conditions get stored in the growing tooth which can be characterized by scanning imaging techniques with XRF, SAXS and WAXS contrast. Since the narwhales live for a long time, their tusks proved a history book of changing environmental conditions over the lifetime of the animal.

This Nordforsk funded project is conducted at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg Sweden in collaboration with Aarhus University, Denmark the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

Chameleon tongue

The chameleon tongue can be projected up to two-body length from the mouth at incredible speed. In order to withstand the high forces acting upon, the tongue is formed by a unique complex array of cartilage elastic elements and muscles which we try to understand better using SAXS tensor tomography.

This project is performed in close collaboration with Empa and Zurich University.

Sidebar

Contact

Structure and Mechanics of Advanced Materials Group

Paul Scherrer Institut
WBBA/114
5232 Villigen-PSI
Switzerland

Prof. Dr. Marianne Liebi
Group Leader
Telephone: +41 56 310 44 38
E-mail: marianne.liebi@psi.ch

Dr. Steven Van Petegem
Senior scientist
Telephone: +41 56 310 25 37
E-mail: steven.vanpetegem@psi.ch

LSC Homepage

Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics


Photon Science Division

Homepage of PSI Division Photon Science (PSD)


Scientific Highlights PSD

Scientific Highlights of PSI Division Photon Science (PSD)

Swiss Light Source SLS

Synchrotron light large research facility.

SwissFEL

The new X-ray free electron laser facility.


User Office

The PSI User Office is a central PSI installation to serve the users from all the four user laboratories.


Current openings PSD

Job Opportunities at Research Division Photon Science

top

Footer

Paul Scherrer Institut

Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Telephone: +41 56 310 21 11
Telefax: +41 56 310 21 99

How to find us
Contact

Visitor Centre psi forum
School Lab iLab (in German)
Center for Proton Therapy
PSI Education Centre
PSI Guest House
PSI Gastronomie (in German)
psi forum shop

Service & Support

  • Phone Book
  • User Office
  • Accelerator Status
  • PSI Publications
  • Suppliers
  • E-Billing
  • Computing
  • Safety (in German)

Career

  • Working at PSI
  • Job Opportunities
  • Training and further education
  • Career Center
  • Vocational Training (in German)
  • PSI Education Center

For the media

  • PSI in brief
  • Facts and Figures
  • Media corner
  • Media Releases
  • Social Media

Follow us: Twitter (in English) LinkedIn Youtube Facebook Instagram Issuu RSS

Footer legal

  • Imprint
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Editors' login