Prof. Ghadiali receives more grants to study lung mechanics

Samir Ghadiali, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, recently received three awards and grants to support his study of molecular mechanics and cell adhesion in the human lung.
Ghadiali, a member of Lehigh's bioengineering and life sciences program, received a two-year grant from the Pennsylvania-Delaware Affiliate of the American Heart Association. The grant will enable him to use a novel experimental system, which mimics the ventilation of fluid-filled lung regions, to investigate the injury mechanisms of epithelial cells.
Specifically, Ghadiali will use optical tweezer technology to study the relationship between micromechanical cell properties and cellular injury. His goal is to gain a better understanding of the biomechanical mechanisms responsible for cellular injury during mechanical ventilation.
Ghadiali also received a Minority Junior Faculty Award from the christian R. and Mary F. Lindback foundation. The award, given by the Lindback Foundation of Philadelphia, helps professors finance summer or sabbatical leaves, conduct research and purchase equipment.
Ghadiali will use the Lindback award to purchase a Total Internal Reflection Microscope, which can visualize the molecular interactions responsible for cell adhesion. The instrument will help Ghadiali and his students study the dynamics of how lung cells adhere and possibly detach from their substrate when exposed to injurious surface tension forces.
In June, Ghadiali received a New Faculty travel Award from the United States National Committee on Biomechanics to attend the group's second Symposium on Frontiers in Biomechanics in Vail, Colorado.
Earlier this year, Ghadiali received a Parker B. Francis Fellowship in Pulmonary Research, a competitive, three-year award, to study the mechanics of lung function.