European Society 
The 26th Congress of ESB will take place Online from 11 – 14 July 2021 and it will be organisd by the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
For more information esbiomech2021.org.
We are looking forward to receiving your contributions and to welcoming you at ESB2021 in Milan!
The project aims to develop computational models to analyse the impact of ocean acidification on cold-water coral reefs. Our vision is to facilitate rapid monitoring strategies that can help to preserve some of the most vulnerable ecosystems. To realise this, we aim to develop fast and effective multiscale in silico models from coral skeleton to reef length scale to predict the ocean acidification induced decay of cold-water coral reef systems. A major challenge is the ability to such complex systems, and we aim to overcome this by combining the power of multiscale models based on physical knowledge with the speed of artificial neural networks.
More information can be found here:
Motivated by the pressing need for treatment optimisation in musculoskeletal diseases, our vision is to create a clinical point-of-care test that uses X-rays to visualise mechanical analyses of long bones such as the femur to illustrate potential therapeutic success in a couple of minutes, without adding significant time to patient consultations or training needs for clinicians. To realise this, we aim to develop fast and effective patient-specific in silico models to predict the multiscale mechanical behaviour of long bones. These combine the power of multiscale models based on physical knowledge with the speed of artificial neural networks.
More information can be found here:
The AO is a medically guided, not-for-profit organization led by an international group of surgeons specialized in the treatment of trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Founded in 1958 by 13 visionary surgeons, the AO fosters one of the most extensive networks of over 215,000 surgeons, operating room personnel, and scientists in over 100 countries.
The mission of the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI) is excellence in applied Preclinical Research and Development within trauma and disorders of the musculoskeletal system and translation of this knowledge to achieve more effective patient care worldwide. The ARI contributes high quality applied Preclinical Research and Development (exploratory and translational) focused towards clinical applications/solutions as well as investigates and improves the performance of surgical procedures, devices and substances. It fosters a close relationship with the AO medical community, academic societies, and universities and provides a research environment and support for AO clinicians.
PhD Student Biomechanics and Modeling Focus Area
Peri-implantitis remains an unsolved issue, affecting close to half of all dental implants, with heavy smokers, patients with systemic health conditions (e.g. uncontrolled diabetes) and the immunosuppressed to be more vulnerable to the disease. The currently used dental implants are of low functionality and prone to bacterial colonization and to the formation of bacterial biofilm. The international and interdisciplinary consortium of the Horizon 2020 funded I-SMarD project aims to address this issue by developing advanced multifunctional dental implants that prevent bacterial colonization, promote tissue in-growth and integration via custom 3D printed structure, and allow non-invasive monitoring of the healing process using special coatings. The novel implants are expected to reduce the required time and cost of rehabilitation period for patients benefit while improving diagnosis.
Within this context, we are looking for an outstanding PhD student to join our team. The PhD candidate’s activities will be focused on the structural design and mechanical behavior of the implant using a combined biomechanical testing and computer simulation approach. The successful candidate will be hired at ARI and enrolled at in the PhD program of a partner university in Europe.
Your profile
We offer
If you meet the requirements of this challenging opportunity, please submit your complete online application (motivation letter, CV, recent photograph, certificates, reference letters, etc.) through our online application system. Applications received via other channels will not be considered in the process.
For more information please contact Dr. Peter Varga peter.varga@aofoundation.org
The online application link can be found here.
Lower back pain (LBP) is the largest cause of morbidity worldwide, yet there remains controversy as to the specific cause leading to poor treatment options and prognosis. Intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) is reported to account for 50% of LBP in young adults, but the interplay of factors such as genetics, environmental, cellular responses, social and psychological is poorly understood. Unfortunately, the integration of such data into a holistic and rational map of degenerative processes and risk factors has not been achieved, requiring the creation of professional cross-competencies, which current training programmes in biomedicine, biomedical engineering and translational medicine fail to address, individually.
Disc4All aims to tackle this issue through collaborative expertise of clinicians; computational physicists and biologists; geneticists; computer scientists; cell and molecular biologists; microbiologists; bioinformaticians; and industrial partners. It provides interdisciplinary training in data curation and integration; experimental and theoretical/computational modelling; computer algorithm development; tool generation; and model and simulation platforms to transparently integrate primary data for enhanced clinical interpretations through models and simulations. Complementary training is offered in dissemination; project management; responsible research and innovation; ethics; regulation; policy; business strategy; public and patient engagement. Disc4All will train a new generation of internationally mobile professionals with unique skill sets for the development of thriving careers in translational research applied to multifactorial disorders.
Position 1:
Topic: Multiscale modelling of IVD cell activity & potential tissue turnover
Description: The successful candidate will work on the multiscale modelling of the mechanisms of intervertebral disc regulation. Specifically, the work will target the modelling and simulation of bottomup processes of tissue regulation, through which the dynamics of cell activity contributes to disc tissue turnover in specific regions of interest, in response to multifactorial cell stimulations. Different types of intervertebral disc network models will be used and combined to successively incorporate cell culture experimental data, proteomics measurements and eventually gene variant effects. Interplays of biochemical, mechanical and nutritional cell stimulation will be modelled in representative volume elements through agent-based modelling. Eventually, collective cell activity will be linked with heterogeneous cell environments predictable through finite element simulations of disc tissue and organ multiphysics.
Supervision: Jérôme Noailly (UPF)
More information:
Position 2:
Topic: Bottom-up simulations of spatio-temporal degenerative events in the IVD & biological LDD stratification
Description: The successful candidate will work on the systematization of multiscale modelling of the intervertebral disc regulation for improved LDD stratification. Existing regulatory network and multiphysics models, at the molecular/cell and tissue/organ scales will be locally integrated in relevant regions of interest of the IVD. Such integration will be coupled with different disc model morphologies and molecular signature inputs, from the Twins UK and Northern Finland Birth cohorts. A smart atlas of simulated data will be generated, to eventually enable efficient calculations through metamodeling. Metamodeling will further allow the mining of simulated and real word data altogether, to establish different fingerprints of LDD and the spatio-temporal evolution thereof, characterised by specific hierarchies of risk factors and exploitable clinically.
Supervision: Jérôme Noailly (UPF)
More information:
Do you want to be part of a globally leading research network comprising institutions across Europe? Would you like to learn new skills in medical engineering with a focus on implant design and biotribology? Could you be a future research leader in providing solutions to some of Europe’s most pressing healthcare problems? Do you want to further your career and attain a PhD at one of the UK’s leading research intensive universities? To complete one of these exciting projects you will be based in the Institute of Functional Surfaces and have access to world leading equipment including advanced simulators and other devices for both the tribological / corrosion testing of implants and the characterisation of the surfaces both coated and uncoated. You will join a recently funded European Training Network (ETN) BioTrib (project ID 956004, call H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020). BioTrib offers high-level doctoral training to a total of 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) of which 3 will be employed at the University of Leeds. The project lead is Prof Richard M Hall at the University of Leeds. This projects will be supervised by Prof Richard M Hall and Dr Michael Bryant.
Important eligibility rules for this position:
There are no restrictions on the nationality, but applicants must, at the time of recruitment,
(1) have not yet been awarded a doctorate degree and be in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers. This is measured from the date that you obtained the degree which would entitle you to embark on a PhD.
(2) At the time of recruitment, applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc…) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment under the BioTrib project. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.
Salary:
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher living allowance is fixed at €62,057 per annum including the mobility allowance. This figure is before employer’s and employee’s deductions for national insurance and taxes per year, which will be paid in Sterling using an appropriate conversion rate.
Further details on each of these posts please refer to the applications website for the background, job description and person specification.
http://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/epsme1033
http://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/epsme1034
http://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/epsme1035
To explore the posts further or for any queries you may have, please contact:
Prof Richard M Hall, School of Mechanical Engineering
Email: r.m.hall@leeds.ac.uk
The Institute of Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics at TU Wien, Computational Biomechanics Group of Prof Pahr, is offering a full-time position (40 hours/week) for a post-doc university assistant for two years. The estimated starting date is March 1, 2021.
TU Wien is committed to increase female employment in leading scientific positions. Female candidates are explicitly encouraged to apply. Preference will be given when equally qualified. People with special needs are equally encouraged to apply. In case of any questions, please contact the confidant for disabled persons at the university (contact: gerhard.neustaetter@tuwien.ac.at)
Entry level salary as a postdoctoral researcher is covered by level B1 of the Austrian Collective Agreement for university staff, and receives a minimum of currently EUR 3.889,50 month gross, 14 times/year. Relevant working experiences may increase the monthly income.
We look forward to receiving your application until January 7th, 2021.
Application Documents: The application should include a motivation letter, a scientific CV, diploma certificates, list of publications, and a copy of the PhD thesis, all in electronic form.
For inquires on the technical description please contact Prof. Dr. Dieter Pahr ( dieter.pahr@tuwien.ac.at ). Applications are only accepted via our online system https://jobs.tuwien.ac.at/Job/140623.
Background and scope of the work
Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, constitutes a fundamental physiological process during the regeneration of many tissues, including bone. In a DFG-funded collaborative project, we are using a combined experimental/computational approach to investigate how mechanical forces mediate angiogenesis during bone repair. As part of this project, a PhD position is available to investigate the role of mechanical strains on the growth of new blood vessels using mechano-biological computational models.
Tasks
You will develop computer models of sprouting angiogenesis taking into account the role played by chemical and mechanical signals in vessel patterning. You will work in close collaboration with project partners working in in vitro and in vivo models to inform and validate the computer models.
Your profile
What we provide
This position is available for a period of three years with the possibility to be extended if new funding is available. You will work in a friendly team and in a unique research environment. As a PhD student, you will be associated to the Berlin-Brandenburg School of Regenerative Therapies (www.bsrt.de) and benefit from the interaction with international scientists.
Starting date: as soon as possible.
Contact:
If you are interested, please send your CV, motivation letter and two references to: Prof. Sara Checa (sara.checa@charite.de)
A virtual Scientific Meeting of the Austrian Chapter of ESB will take place on Monday, November 30, 2020, 09:30-16:30.
Please see the agenda for download.
Please pre-register yourself for the Zoom webinar – see below. After registering, you will automatically receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please feel free to forward the announcement to any interested colleague.
Practical guidelines:
* Delegates joining the meeting using the provided link, will have the default capabilities of an „Attendee“, meaning they can observe the meeting content but cannot use their microphone, video or share their screen.
* Delegates are encouraged to submit their questions on-line on the Zoom Q&A at any time during the presentation. After each presentation, the chair will summarize the questions and ask them on behalf of the attendees.
* Attendees are requested to login at the meeting with their full name allowing the organizers to keep track of the participants.
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You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Nov 30, 2020 09:30 AM Vienna
Topic: Scientific meeting of Austrian Chapter of ESB
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://tuwien.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3HR2DuWhRsmN7gu9Z_nGLQ
The primary aim of the study is to establish the inter-relationship of initial cartilage quality, subchondral bone stiffness and loading scenarios (due to different physiological activies which result in loads with varying magnitudes, frequencies and strain rates) by using computational models to optimise osteoarthritis treatment.
Outline: The research will be conducted by using data from mechanical testing and imaging of testing clinical samples in conjunction with available physiological loading data. Novel computational simulations using the finite element method will be employed. A range of cartilage properties will be considered; variation of properties from normal to cartilage weakened by infection or inflammation will be considered. Similarly the material properties of the subchondral bone will be varied to represent subchondral sclerosis. The findings of this project will enable the interplay of bone and cartilage properties and loading to be considered in different patients. This will indicate the leading mechanism of joint failure in different patients, which will allow us to personalize the treatment inline with the principles of precision medicine
Project supervisors: Professor Pankaj Pankaj and Professor Hamish Simpson, The University of Edinburgh
Project description: https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/precision-medicine/project-opportunities/21-22-projects/novel-computational-modelling-for-personalised-tre
To apply: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees/index.php?r=site/view&id=919
Application deadline: 7 January 2021
Applicants are encouraged to contact Prof Pankaj Pankaj (pankaj@ed.ac.uk) with their CV prior to applying.
We are looking for a PhD student to explore the potential of Neutron scattering for studying soft musculoskeletal tissues and their structural and mechanical changes due to osteoarthritis. The student will be supervised by Prof Hanna Isaksson and Prof Martin Englund and be part of SwedNESS – the Swedish national graduate school for neutron research.
More information can be found here:
https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:360505/type:job/where:4/apply:1
