This novel modeling technique provides a powerful new tool for tissue evaluation in osteoarthritis research, cartilage tissue engineering and related animal studies. Once the approach is fully validated against the gold standard (Pg chemical assays), lu plans to migrate the current table-top indentation setup to a handheld micro-indentation platform. Combined with clinical arthroscopic devices, this is inserted inside a knee joint to determine both mechanical properties and proteoglycan content under single indent test, offering surgeons a versatile tool in detecting osteoarthritis at an early stage
