The research goal of our lab is to understand the role of mechanical stress in the development and remodeling of the cardiovascular system and thus to improve the understanding, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

     Our lab currently has several funded projects, all aim at understanding the role of mechanical stress in arterial and heart remodeling and its relationship to cardiovascular diseases. Our research topics include the mechanism of artery kinking which often develops in elderly in internal carotid arteries and iliac arteries,  the remodeling of arterial wall due to injury and pulse pressure, and the wall stress and remodeling of the left ventricle after an heart attack which will help us to understand the mechanism of heart failure after an heart attack.

Keywords: Vascular biomechanics, artery, vein, mechanical stress, residual stress, stability, buckling, kinking, tortuosity, wall remodeling, soft tissue, growth, matrix remodeling, adaptation, Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), vein grafts, vascular grafts, tissue engineering, stents, restenosis, reendothelialization, cell proliferation, migration, intimal hyperplasia, hypertension, aneurysms, atherosclerosis,  left ventricle, left ventricular remodeling, cardiac function, ejection fraction, modeling, finite element analysis, organ culture, ex vivo.

Lab News:

Shawn Lamm received a SACNAS Travel Scholarship Award to present a poster at the SACNAS annual meeting in Dallas, TX (Sept. 2009)

Danika Hayman featured in UTSA Today  (August 24, 2009)

Justin Garcia received a Graduate Research Supplement from the NSF to support his graduate study. (August 2009)

Danika Hayman received a Graduate Research Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (August 2009)

Danika Hayman received an F31 predoctoral fellowship from the NIH (May 2009)

Shawn Lamm received a Poster Award at the 2008 SACNAS National Conference. (Oct. 2008)

Danika Hayman received an NIH MBRS-RISE predoctoral scholarship (Sept. 2008) 

Avione Northcutt received an NIH MBRS-RISE predoctoral scholarship (Sept. 2008)

Rick Martinez received a Poster Award at the 2008 Summer Bioengineering Conference (June 2008)

Congratulations!!!

To Perspective Students:

Graduate students are welcome to join our team. Stipend (funded through the National Science Foundation, NSF) are available for qualified students, especially for minority students.

Undergraduate Students: Dr. Han is a mentor in the UTSA MARC-U*STAR program and MBRS-RISE program. The programs provide monthly stipend and whole year tuition for minority students who are interested in getting "hands-on" research experience or pursuing a doctoral degree in our lab. Contact Dr. Han if you are interested in the program or to participate in the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in summer 2010.

Go to Dr. Han's Home Page

This page was updated 9/9/2009