The Mechanics of Soft Materials Laboratory (MSML) at 200 Boston Avenue contains mechanical testing equipment used to characterize a wide variety of soft materials. The MSML is part of a suite of labs known as the Advanced Technologies Laboratories (ATL), and is home to collaborative research projects in the areas of Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering at Tufts University. Researchers in need of expertise in mechanical evaluation of soft materials are invited to contact the MSML. Learn more >

News

• Professor Luis Dorfmann will be presenting ongoing project work at the Society of Engineering Science 45th Annual Technical Meeting, October 12-15th, 2008, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He will be hosting a symposium entitled "Nonlinear mechanics of fiber-reinforced materials." Topics range through theoretical foundations, modeling, computational methods and experimental techniques, with applications to composite material characterization and biomedical engineering.
   
• The acquisition of biaxial testing equipment in the MSML was made possible through a Keck Foundation grant, which was awarded to seven Tufts faculty in the Schools of Engineering and Arts and Sciences for developing "Biomimetic Technologies for Soft Bodied Robots". Also posted on New York Times and Science Daily.
   
• The acquisition of Instron Corporation BioPuls™ Submersible Pneumatic Grips and Temperature-Controlled Bath for use in the MSML was made possible through additional Tissue Engineering Resource Center (TERC) funding, sponsored by the NIH. See our funding page.