Sheldon Weinbaum

As a biofluid mechanician I have developed a broad range of models to explore the relationship between structure and function in physiological transport. My laboratory has developed a theory for microvascular blood-tissue heat exchange now known as the Weinbaum-Jihi bioheat equation. I have developed two basic models for the transport of cholesterol in the arterial wall. The first describes at the cellular level how a small population of endothelial cells in the process of turnover transports cholesterol molecules into the arterial intima. The second described an earlier hypothesis of vesicular transport of cholesterol across vascular endothelium. My laboratory has developed a series of subcellular models examining the role of the endothelial glycocalyx in microvascular exchange and the interaction of red and white cells with the endothelial surface. I have also proposed a fluid-shear hypothesis and model to explain how osteocytes are able to sense mechanical loading. More recently I have been trying to decipher cellular mechanosensory and strain amplification mechanisms in cytoskeletal signaling. New hypotheses have been proposed for brush border microvilli in the kidney and for strain amplification in the cytoskeleton of bone cell processes.