Composite Thickness and Stiffness Analysis of the Nasal Septum.

The nasal septum supports the structure of the nose and is frequently manipulated during septorhinoplasty. To compare measurements of thickness and compressive Young's modulus (YM) between different regions of nasal septa from human anatomic specimens. Case series.

A gel-coated air-liquid-interface culture system with tunable substrate stiffness matching healthy and diseased lung tissues.

Since its invention in the late 1980s, the air-liquid-interface (ALI) culture system has been the standard in vitro model for studying human airway biology and pulmonary diseases. However, in a conventional ALI system, cells are cultured on a porous plastic membrane that is much stiffer than human airway tissues. Here, we develop a gel-ALI culture system by simply coating the plastic membrane with a thin layer of hydrogel with tunable stiffness matching that of healthy and fibrotic airway tissues.