Mechanotransduction Perspective, Recent Progress and Future Challenges

Mechanotransduction provides a clear bridge between experimental results performed at separate scales. In particular, it involves quantitative measurements versus more qualitative approaches used by the “general” cell biology making connections that do not follow a simple linear chain of events. The effects of mechanotransduction include growth and remodeling, which are typically considered as unique processes, representing mass–volume changes due to bulk material deposition or resorption versus structural changes including trabecular or fiber realignment, respectively. Development for models of these processes involves both constitutive formulation (constructing mathematical models that govern the evolution of the state of the material) and computational implementation of the constitutive model, typically within a finite element framework.