1-5 October 2009 Sydney Convetion Centre

Rick Lieber earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from U.C. Davis in 1982 developing a theory of light diffraction that was applied to mechanical studies of single muscle cells. He joined the faculty of U.C. San Diego in 1985 where he continues studies of structure-function relationships in skeletal muscle. Dr. Lieber’s work is characterized by its interdisciplinary nature—an approach that is relevant to those who study biomechanics. He has published over 150 articles in journals ranging from the very basic such as The Biophysical Journal and The Journal of Cell Biology to those more applied such as The Journal of Hand Surgery and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. More recently, he has implemented more modern tools of molecular biology in his work trying to understand gene expression patterns in muscles subjected to high stress and in performing mechanistic studies of muscles in which genes are introduced to muscles in an attempt to change their mechanical function. It is these types of interdisciplinary biomechanical studies that Dr. Lieber hopes can inspire future investigators interested in biomechanics.