Background and motivation: In the field of bioengineering, native and synthesized biological materials have complex micro-structural arrangements of fiber-like extracellular proteins within the more amorphous matrix (Fig. 1). Understanding the material structure-function relationship can provide insight into the pathology of valvular heart diseases, and advance various biomedical applications, such as tissue engineered scaffolds and artificial heart valves.

In this research, we developed a computational framework to bridge material microscopic structures and macroscopic functionalities of biological tissues and bio-inspired materials. For instance, in the numerical investigation of hydrogels, we first identified the material microscopic parameters using experimental data. Based on these parameters, we revealed the material structure-function relationships via numerical simulations, which were then applied to optimize the hydrogel microstructure and pattern geometries (Fig. 2). Other applications of the proposed computational framework include modeling various arterial wall layers using histological data obtained from image processing, as well as fabricating eggshell membrane-hydrogel composites for layered heart valve constructs. These research advances are possible largely because of the synergy between our team’s expertise in computational mechanics and the expertise of our collaborators (Dr. Grande-Allen’s research team) in advanced manufacturing and experimental techniques.