About

Callan Luetkemeyer is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with faculty affiliations in the Department of Bioengineering, the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Beckman Institute, and the Materials Research Lab. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, earned in 2020, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Saint Louis University. His research focuses on constitutive modeling of soft tissues, including anisotropy, hyperelasticity, and viscoelasticity, as well as structure-function relationships in soft tissue mechanics and extracellular matrix. He specializes in deformation imaging, full-field experimental mechanics, and inverse mechanics methods to study tissue injury and biomechanics. Luetkemeyer has contributed to understanding tissue injury criteria, ligament deformation thresholds, and nanoscale strain-stiffening responses in cartilage, among other topics. His work aims to advance the understanding of health issues related to soft tissue mechanics through image-based modeling methods.

Research topics

• Engineering
• Structural engineering
• Composite material
• Anatomy
• Materials science
• Physics
• Optics
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Unexplained infertility and impaired decidualization: A case for studying endometrial mechanics and microstructure

  Acta Biomaterialia · 2025-11-20 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Unexplained infertility affects approximately 20 % of couples seeking reproductive assistance, often leading to the use of treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) despite their limited efficacy in these cases. Emerging evidence implicates endometrial dysfunction - specifically impaired decidualization - as an underlying cause. The endometrium is the inner lining of the uterus that undergoes cyclical regeneration, breakdown, and repair during the menstrual cycle, and plays a critical role in embryo implantation and early pregnancy. Decidualization is a hormonally driven transformation of the endometrium involving dramatic cellular and extracellular matrix (ECM) changes essential for successful implantation and pregnancy. While the cellular and hormonal aspects of decidualization have been studied extensively, the required alterations to ECM composition, organization, and mechanical function remain largely unknown. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the anatomy, structure, composition, and mechanical function of the uterus, with a particular focus on the endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and during pregnancy. A special focus is placed on the role of the ECM in impaired decidualization, a key contributor to endometrial dysfunction. We suggest that an interdisciplinary approach, integrating insights from reproductive physiology, ECM biology, imaging science, and engineering mechanics, will enable a more complete understanding of reproductive function and dysfunction, leading to improved diagnostics and more targeted therapies for infertility. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Unexplained infertility affects millions of couples, often leading to costly and ineffective treatments like IVF. Emerging research implicates endometrial dysfunction-specifically, impaired decidualization-as a key contributor. While hormonal and cellular aspects of this process are well-studied, the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in supporting implantation remains largely unknown. This review presents a comprehensive synthesis of endometrial anatomy, microstructure, and mechanics, highlighting novel interdisciplinary opportunities that combine reproductive biology with engineering and imaging science. By emphasizing mechanical biomarkers and ECM remodeling, this work lays a foundation for new diagnostic tools and therapies that could transform how we identify and treat infertility, offering hope to those with unexplained reproductive challenges.

  PublisherDOI

• Reflecting on Ten Years of Building a Community of Practice for Teaching Innovations in Fundamental Mechanics Courses

  2025-08-21

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  PublisherDOI

• Fun Friday: Assessing the effectiveness of weekly real-world applications in introductory dynamics lectures

  2025-08-21

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  PublisherDOI

• TL;DR Students don’t read textbooks: designing online reference pages to enhance student learning

  2025-08-21

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• Full-field indentation microscopy: Reimagining indentation-based characterization of soft matter with the virtual fields method

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Full-field indentation microscopy: Reimagining indentation-based characterization of soft matter with the virtual fields method

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Making space for curiosity, connection, and creating value by integrating real-world examples into engineering education

  2025-08-21

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  PublisherDOI

• Effect of pregnancy, vaginal delivery, postpartum remodeling, and age on the tensile behavior and biochemical composition of the murine ulterosacral ligament (USL)

  Acta Biomaterialia · 2025-07-05 · 3 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Extracellular matrix protein composition dynamically changes during murine forelimb development

  iScience · 2024-01-08 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an integral part of multicellular organisms, connecting different cell layers and tissue types. During morphogenesis and growth, tissues undergo substantial reorganization. While it is intuitive that the ECM remodels in concert, little is known regarding how matrix composition and organization change during development. Here, we quantified ECM protein dynamics in the murine forelimb during appendicular musculoskeletal morphogenesis (embryonic days 11.5–14.5) using tissue fractionation, bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging, and mass spectrometry. Our analyses indicated that ECM protein (matrisome) composition in the embryonic forelimb changed as a function of development and growth, was distinct from other developing organs (brain), and was altered in a model of disease (osteogenesis imperfecta murine). Additionally, the tissue distribution for select matrisome was assessed via immunohistochemistry in the wild-type embryonic and postnatal musculoskeletal system. This resource will guide future research investigating the role of the matrisome during complex tissue development.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pregnancy and age differentially affect stiffness, injury susceptibility, and composition of murine uterosacral ligaments

  Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials/Journal of mechanical behavior of biomedical materials · 2024-12-17 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Pelvic organ prolapse is a debilitating condition that diminishes quality of life, and it has been linked to pregnancy and aging. Injury of the uterosacral ligaments (USLs), which provide apical support to the pelvic organs, is a major cause of uterine prolapse. In this study, we examined the effect of pregnancy and age on the apparent elastic modulus, susceptibility to collagen damage, and extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of the murine USL. USLs from mice at three different stages of pregnancy and across two age groups were mechanically tested and evaluated for collagen microdamage. Raman spectroscopy was used to evaluate changes in ECM composition. Our findings reveal that (1) all USLs subjected to mechanical stretch sustained collagen microdamage, (2) both pregnancy and age significantly affected USL stiffness and injury susceptibility, and (3) pregnancy, but not age, altered ECM composition. Overall, this work represents a major step toward understanding the role of tissue microstructure and mechanical function in USL injury, which should guide novel ECM-targeted treatment and prevention strategies for uterine prolapse.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sarah Calve

  15 shared

• Ellen M. Arruda

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  12 shared

• Corey P. Neu

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  10 shared

• Jonathan B. Estrada

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  7 shared

• Ulrich M. Scheven

  6 shared

• Sarah N. Lipp

  Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

  6 shared

• Virginia L. Ferguson

  University of Colorado Boulder

  5 shared

• Kathleen A. Connell

  University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

  5 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

  University of Michigan

• B.S., Biomedical Engineering

  Saint Louis University

• M.S., Mechanical Engineering

  University of Michigan

Awards & honors

• Early Career Program Award (2025)
• Schmidt Science Fellowship (2020)
• Savio L-Y Woo Young Researcher Award (2020)
• Ivor K. McIvor Award for Excellence in Applied Mechanics Res…