Mohammad Mofrad Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering 208A Stanley Hall mailcode: 1762 (510) 643-8165 fax: (510) 642-5835 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://biomechanics.berkeley.edu

Joined the UC Berkeley Faculty in 2005

Research Interests

The research in Mofrad Lab (Molecular Cell Biomechanics Laboratory) is focused around two main goals:

(1) To understand the principles underlying cellular mechanics, rheology, and mechanotransduction,

(2) To understand the multiscale biomechanical processes underlying cardiovascular tissue mechanotransduction involved in diseases like aortic valve calcification and arterial atherosclerosis.

Education

1991    B.A.Sc., Sharif University of Technology, Iran
1994    M.A.Sc., University of Waterloo, Canada
1999    Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada

Major Awards

2000-2002    Partner in Excellence Awards, Partners HealthCare System, Massachusetts General Hospital
2002    Runner-up for American Society of Biomechanics Microstrain Award, World Congress of Biomechanics
2003    Young Investigator Fellowship Award, U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanic
2005    University of California Regents’ Junior Faculty Fellow
2008    Hellman Faculty Fund Award, UC Berkeley

Professional Experience

1999-2000        Post-Doc, Computer Science Department, University of Toronto
2000-2002        Post-Doc, Harvard Medical School and Mass. General Hospital
2000-2002        Post-Doc, Department of Mechanical and Biological Engineering Division, MIT
2002-2005        Senior Fellow, Harvard Medical School and Mass. General Hospital
2002-2004        Research Scientist, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering Division, MIT
2004-2005        Principal Research Scientist, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering, MIT
2005-2007        Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
2005-Present    Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley

Selected Publications

Molecular Cell Biomechanics & Mechanotransduction
Karcher H, Lammerding J, Huang H, Lee RT, Kamm RD, Kaazempur Mofrad MR. A three-dimensional viscoelastic model for cell deformation with experimental verification. Biophysical J. 2003 Nov;85(5):3336-49.

Kolahi KS, Mofrad MR. Molecular mechanics of filamin's rod domain. Biophysical Journal 2008 Feb 1;94(3):1075-83.
 
Lee SE, Chunsrivirot S, Kamm RD, Mofrad MR. Molecular Dynamics Study of Talin-Vinculin Binding. Biophys J. 2008 Aug. 15. 

Wolf CB, Mofrad MR. On the Octagonal Structure of the Nuclear Pore Complex: Insights from Coarse-Grained Models. Biophysical Journal. 2008 Aug. 15 [Cover Story]

Chandran PL, Mofrad MRK. Rods-on-string idealization captures semiflexible filament dynamics, PHYSICAL REVIEW E 79, 011906 2009

Chandran PL, Wolf CB, Mofrad MRK. Band-like Stress Fiber Propagation in a Continuum and Implications for Myosin Contractile Stresses


Cardiovascular Tissue Biomechanics & Mechanotransduction

Weinberg EJ, Kaazempur Mofrad MR. Transient, three-dimensional, multiscale simulations of the human aortic valve. Cardiovascular Eng. 2007 Dec;7(4):140-55.

Weinberg EJ, Kaazempur Mofrad MR. A Multiscale Computational Comparison of the Bicuspid and Tricuspid Aortic Valves in Relation to Calcific Aortic Stenosis. Journal of Biomechanics, 2008.

Weinberg EJ, Schoen FJ, Kaazempur Mofrad MR. A computational model of aging and calcification in the aortic heart valve, PLOS ONE, To appear, 2009
 
Books:
    Mofrad MRK and Kamm RD (Eds.) "Cytoskeletal Mechanics: Models and Measurements", Cambridge University Press, 2006.

  Mofrad MRK and Kamm RD (Eds.) "Cellular Mechanotransduction: Diverse Perspectives from Molecules to Tissues", Cambridge University Press, May 2009.

   De S, Guilak F, Mofrad MRK (Eds.) ,"Computational Methods in Biomechanics", Springer-Verlag, To appear in 2009.

Full list of publications can be found here: http://biomechanics.berkeley.edu