Spencer Lake

Focus

Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Mechanics

Research

Spencer Lake’s research focuses on soft tissue biomechanics, with an emphasis on orthopaedic tissues, such as tendon and ligament. His research uses a multiscale experimental and computational approach to evaluate the in vivo loading environment, tissue properties, and microstructural structure-function relationships of tissues that function in complex physiologic environments.

Studies conducted by Lake's research group in the Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Laboratory aim to enhance fundamental understanding of healthy tissue properties, elucidate changes that occur in (and mechanisms responsible for) injury/disease, and provide guidelines for improved treatment/replacement strategies. While focused primarily on tendon and ligament of the upper extremity (i.e., shoulder and elbow), these studies also have broad applicability towards understanding properties and relationships of many different native and engineered soft tissues.

Biography

Professor Lake joined Washington University in St. Louis in 2012. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow and supervisor of the Tissue Mechanics Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His doctoral research was conducted in the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, and his undergraduate degree is in Bioengineering from the University of Utah.

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