Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing
Faculty and Staff
Tarek Shazly
Title: | Graduate Director, Biomedical Engineering Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering |
Department: | Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
Email: | shazly@cec.sc.edu |
Phone: | 803-777-4678 |
Fax: | 803-777-0106 |
Office: | 300 Main Street Room A212 Columbia, SC 29208 |
Resources: | Google Scholar |
Background
Research Area 1: Interactions between implanted polymeric materials and soft tissues
My early work was focused on understanding soft tissue-material interactions for the
purpose of optimizing surgical sealant performance. The publications that emerged
from this line of inquiry impacted the field in two distinct ways. First, we provided
the initial demonstration that adhesion is a tissue-specific phenomenon that can be
exploited in advanced material design. Second, these and related publications established
novel design strategies to enhance adhesion strength without compromising material
biocompatibility – the power in these strategies is that they can be generalized across
material systems and surgical sealant applications.
Research Area 2: Characterization, assessment, and modeling of endovascular technologies
Endovascular technologies such as drug-eluting stents, erodible scaffolds, and drug-coated
balloons have steadily evolved over the past 40 years. Multidisciplinary research
approaches are needed to design, optimize, and evaluate emergent devices, typically
requiring consideration of hemodynamics, drug pharmacokinetics, material mechanics,
and device degradation/erosion kinetics. To accommodate this inherent complexity in
the face of rapid device development, regulatory agencies have begun to expect and
nearly require predictive computational models which clearly explain the mechanism-of-action
and potential risk of new technologies. To meet this field demand, our work has been
focused on the development of finite element-based computational models and design/deployment
strategies to facilitate the continued advancement of endovascular technologies and
their safe introduction into clinical practice.
Research Area 3: Experimental and theoretical biomechanical studies on native and
engineered blood vessels
The identification of constitutive mechanical models of vascular tissue is essential
for quantifying the local environment of mechanosensitive vascular cells in normal
and disease states, understanding mechanically-mediated vascular tissue remodeling,
and providing a basis for the engineering of vascular tissue substitutes. Publications
in these areas have been impactful in terms of providing data and models for previously
understudied yet critical regions of the circulatory system, applying continuum-mechanical
principles to explain intra-vessel variations in geometry, properties, and composition,
and introducing tissue-engineered constructs which exhibit enhanced matrix elaboration
and thus potential as vascular substitutes.
Education
- Ph.D., Bio- and Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009
- S.M., Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007
- M.S., Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004
- B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001