Spring 2015

Seminars are held at 11:30AM in Cullimore Hall, Room 611, unless noted otherwise. For questions about the seminar schedule, please contact Casey Diekman.


Date: March 24, 2015

Speaker: Roman Voronov
Otto H. York Department of Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering
Newark College of Engineering ,
New Jersey Institute of Technology

University Profile

Title: "Image-based Modeling for Bio-medicine and Beyond"

Abstract:

Musculoskeletal disorders cost the US over $850 billion annually – 7.7% of the GDP, largely due to failed implants that necessitate revision surgery. Engineered bone tissue cultured from patients’ own cells is a promising alternative to conventional treatments of large defects; however the field has not been able to transition to clinical applications due to major obstacles that must first be overcome (suboptimal culturing conditions, lack of blood supply upon implantation, etc.). Pathological assembly of platelet deposits and fibrin polymerization results in over one million heart attacks and strokes each year in the US. Unlike bone tissue engineering, the field of hemodynamic thrombogenesis is mature and well-studied. Yet both are examples of biomedical problems of tremendous importance that remain significant research challenges because of their inherent complexity and lack of information about the underlying physical processes taking place at their micro scale. Image-based modeling is an emerging multi-disciplinary field that uses state-of-the-art imaging techniques in conjunction with both novel and well-developed modeling methods in order to provide insights into otherwise inaccessible systems. The use of the imaging provides several significant advantages over conventional 1st order principles approaches: exact geometries of complex structures involved (scaffolds, thrombus, etc.) are known; gradients of biological markers, cell / tissue locations / amounts are visualized and used as input to the simulations. This minimizes reliance on idealized representations and assumptions, and tremendously reduces the model complexity. Therefore, this seminar will explore the application of image-based (specifically, large-scale Lattice Boltzmann fluid dynamics and Lagrangian Scalar Tracking methods facilitated by high end computing) modeling to the two case studies mentioned above (optimization of ex vivo culturing conditions for artificial bone tissue and identifying key elements of thrombogenesis), as well as other possible future applications and developments.