Michael R. Moreno, PhD

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University — 2009
• M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University — 2003
• M.S., Science Education, Florida International University — 1997
• B.S., Physics, Florida International University — 1996

Research Interests

Dr. Moreno is Director of the Biomechanical Environments Laboratories. His research is focused on experimental biomechanics and biomechanical engineering across multiple scales. Research interests include biomechanical factors in medical device design, biomechanical factors in tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting, medical device innovation in resource limited settings, cardiovascular fluid and solid biomechanics, orthopedic biomechanics, veterinary biomechanics, biomechanics of human performance, and sports biomechanics.

Industry Experience

• Co-founder of Biomechanics Innovation Group (BIG) LLC, a biomechanics and biomechanical engineering consulting firm.
• Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on several SBIR/STTR projects with medical device start-ups (CorInnova Inc., 4Web Medical, CAIRA)
• Consultant in developing experimental flow and mechanical testing systems and protocols for several major medical device companies (e.g. Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Cordis, Flowmedica, etc.)
• Founding Director of the Orthopedic Biomechanics Research Laboratory (OBRL) at Houston Methodist Hospital

Awards & Honors

• 2016 Dean of Engineering Excellence Award
• 2016 TEES Young Faculty Fellow Award
• 2012 ASME Bioengineering Division Skalak Award for Best Paper
• 2010 ASEE / NSF Post-Doctoral Fellowship
• 2009 SLATE Award for Teaching Excellence
• 2009 Gramm Doctoral Fellowship “for excellence in scholarly research and teaching”
• Sloan Doctoral Fellowship

Selected Publications

Mirrielees, J.A., Chen, B., Moreno, M.R., Brooks, S.D. What to Wear: The Filtration Performance of Alternative Materials Used to Construct Do-It-Yourself Masks. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. April 2021. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200633

Fernandez-Moure, Joseph S., Jeffrey L. Van Eps, Jacob C. Scherba, Iman K. Yazdi, Andrew Robbins, Fernando Cabrera, Cory J. Vatsaas, Michael Moreno, Bradley K. Weiner, and Ennio Tasciotti. “Addition of Platelet-Rich Plasma Supports Immune Modulation and Improved Mechanical Integrity” J Tissue Eng Regen Med 15, no. 1 (January 2021): 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/term.3156.

Mingliang Jiang, Raghuveer Lalitha Sridhar, Andrew B. Robbins, Alan D. Freed, Michael R. Moreno. “A Versatile Biaxial Testing Platform for Soft Tissues”, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. October 2020.

Mingliang Jiang*, Zachary T Lawson*, Erel Veysel, Sophie Pervere*, Tianyi Nan*, Andrew B. Robbins*, Alan D. Freed, Michael R. Moreno. “Clamping Soft Biologic Tissues for Uniaxial Tensile Testing: A Brief Survey of Current Methods and Development of a Novel Clamping Mechanism”, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Volume 103, March 2020.

Andrew B. Robbins*, Alan D. Freed, Michael R. Moreno. “Characterizing the Non-Linear Mechanical Behavior of Native and Biomimetic Engineered Tissues in 1D with Physically Meaningful Parameters.” Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Volume 102, February 2020.