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Glen Niebur

Professor

Education: Ph.D. - University of California at Berkeley, 2000; M.S.M.E. - University of Minnesota, 1995; B.M.E. - University of Minnesota, 1986

Research Interests: Biomechanics, Solid Mechanics, Computational Mechanics

Courses: Introduction to Finite Element Method, Orthopaedic Biomechanics

Email: gniebur@nd.edu

Phone: 574.631.3327

Office: 147 Multidisciplinary Research Building

Personal Website: www.nd.edu/~gniebur

Research Website: bones.ame.nd.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Glen Niebur is associate professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota, and the Ph.D. from the University of California. Research is focused on orthopaedics, including bone quality, damage mechanics of trabecular bone, lumbar spinal fusion, hard and soft tissue constitutive modeling, computational mechanics, of tissues, and genetic factors affecting bone quality.

Current projects are investigating the interactions between microdamage formation in bone and the changes in bone porosity and structure that accompany osteoporosis. Osteoporosis results in changes at multiple levels of the hierarchical structure of bone, and these can either compensate for or enhance fracture risk. Medical imaging methods, especially computed tomography (CT) are used to image and quantify bone structures in bone samples and in live animals. A current project is using medical imaging to longitudinally monitor and understand fracture healing. Most recently, work has begun in the area of bone marrow mechanics, affects of aging and disease on bone marrow morphology, and interactions between bone and bone marrow.

For more details see: http://tml.ame.nd.edu

Selected Publications

  • Wang, X, Masse, DB, Leng, H, Hess, KP, Roeder, RK, and Niebur, GL, 2007, "Detection of trabecular bone microdamage by micro-computed tomography," Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 40, no. 15, pp. 3397-3403 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17588588
  • Leng, H, Wang, X, Ross, RD, Niebur, GL, and Roeder, RK, 2008, "Micro-Computed Tomography of Fatigue Microdamage in Bovine Cortical Bone Using a Barium Sulfate Contrast Agent," Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, vol. 1, pp. 68-75 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443659
  • Liu, X and Niebur, GL, 2008, "Bone ingrowth into a porous coated implant predicted by a mechano-regulatory tissue differentiation algorithm," Biomechanics and Modeling In Mechanobiology, vol. 7 no. 4, pp. 335-44 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17701434
  • Zhang, J, Niebur, GL, and Ovaert, TC, 2008, "Mechanical Property Determination of Bone through Nano- and Micro-Indentation Testing and Finite Element Simulation," vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 267-275 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17961578
  • Shi, X, Wang, X, and Niebur, GL, 2009, "The effects of loading orientation on the morphology of failure regions in trabecular bone", Annals of Biomedical Engineering, vol 37, no. 2, pp. 354-62 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19082893
  • Garrison, JG, Slaboch, CL, and Niebur, GL, 2009, "Density and architecture have greater effects on the toughness of trabecular bone than damage", Bone, vol 44, no. 5, pp. 924-29 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19442628
  • Dai, Y and Niebur, GL, 2009, "A semi-automated method for construction of finite element meshes from CT scans of vertebral bodies", Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, In Press http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19308870
  • Korecki, CL, Zinser, G, Liu, X, Siedler, J, Welsh, J, Niebur, GL, 2009, "Effect of the Vitamin D Receptor on Bone Geometry and Strength During Gestation and Lactation in Mice", Calcified Tissue International, DOI: 10.1007/s00223-009-9281-3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19763375
  • Pilcher, A, Wang, X., Kaltz, Z, Garrison, JG, Niebur, GL, Song, B, Cheng, M, Chen, W, and Mason, JJ, 2009, "High strain rate testing of bovine trabecular bone", Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Accepted for publication
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