Béla Suki, Ph.D. Professor, (BME, MSE)
Education M.S., Physics, and Ph.D., Biomechanics, Jozsef Attila University, Szeged (Hungary)Primary Appointment Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Convergent Themes
Béla Suki is an active interdisciplinary researcher in the following areas:
Synthetic Biology, Tissue Engineering, & Mechanobiology |͟↗̱|
Our research transcends disciplines across Boston University and the College of Engineering, drawing upon diverse thinking to solve societal challenges.
Areas of Interest Mechanical properties of living tissues; Lung and cardiovascular physiology; Mechanotransduction; Networks in complex biological systems.
Publications
Research Areas Dr. Suki’s current research involves evaluating the effects of fluctuations in mechanical conditions on cell function, called Fluctuation-Driven Mechanotransduction. Specifically, mechanotransduction in the laboratory is always studied using sinusoidal stretching. However, in the body, cells are never exposed to strictly monotonous mechanical perturbations. Fluctuations appear to influence essential cell functions such as metabolism and protein production. This has practical and clinical implications: during mechanical ventilation, adding variability improves gas exchange, as well as general cell function. His other fields of interest include the effects of mechanical forces on the extracellular matrix in health and disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His current work also includes computational modeling of large biological networks as well as medical device development.
Honors and Awards • Joseph R. Rodarte Award for Scientific Distinction, American Thoracic Society (2024)
Additional Affiliations Division of Materials Science & Engineering
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