ESBiomech24 Congress in Edinburgh

PhD position on cardiac tissue growth & remodeling @TUDelft

Heart failure is a progressive chronic condition under which heart tissues undergo detrimental changes in structure and function across multiple scales in time and space. Given the role that biomechanical stimuli play in the onset and progression of these remodeling processes, cardiac restraint devices are seen as a promising treatment strategy. However, given the limited understanding of the underlying cardiac tissue behavior, current designs fail to successfully counteract pathological remodeling in the long term.

To this end, the aim of this PhD project is to develop, implement, verify, calibrate, and validate a microstructurally and functionally informed cardiac tissue model for growth and remodeling using finite element analysis. The outcomes of the developed framework will be leveraged to design enhanced bio-informed cardiac restraint devices.

Within this project, the PhD candidate is expected to operate within a multidisciplinary team of engineers, biomedical scientists, and cardiac surgeons. The outcomes of this project will be disseminated to the scientific community and to a general audience through presentations at (inter-)national conferences and through publications in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, the candidate is expected to take part in educational activities within the department (assist in teaching, act as a mentor for master students, supervise master thesis work, … ).

The PhD candidate will be supervised jointly by dr. ir. M. Peirlinck (dept. of Biomechanical Engineering) and dr. ir. Noël (dept. of Precision & Microsystems Engineering) at Delft University of Technology. Our labs have a strong network of national and international collaborators in both academia and industry.

More information:

https://www.tudelft.nl/over-tu-delft/werken-bij-tu-delft/vacatures/details/?nPostingId=2429&nPostingTargetId=6179&id=QEZFK026203F3VBQBLO6G68W9&LG=UK&mask=external

PhD position on the prestress exerted by the fascia on muscle tissue @LBMC, Lyon, France

The Laboratory of biomechanics and impact mechanics, in Lyon (France) has a PhD position on the Experimental analysis and modeling of the prestress exerted by the fascia on muscle tissue. Numerical human body models are an important tool for better understanding the phenomena involved in mobility or comfort. In order to be able to model movement, deformable models of the human body must properly reproduce muscle activation. The main objective of this thesis topic is to include the fasciae, in particular the fascia lata at the level of the thigh, in the lower limb model developed at the LBMC to improve its biomechanical response during muscular activation.

To meet this objective, fascia mechanical properties must be mathematically modeled with a constitutive law of the material to be integrated in the lower limb model, and the prestressing exerted by the fascia on muscle tissue should also be quantified and modeled.

Full description of the project in both French and English: https://lbmc.univ-gustave-eiffel.fr/fileadmin/redaction/LBMC/Documents/Theses2022/sujet_de_These_LBMC_Fascia_2022_Bruyere_Gras_VF.pdf

If you would like to apply or need more information, please send CV, cover letter, contact information for a recommendation, and masters transcripts to Laure-Lise GRAS (laure-lise.gras@univ-lyon1.fr).

Open position of Associate Professor in data-driven mechanics of living material @Mines Saint-Etienne

Mines Saint-Etienne (MSE), one of the graduate schools of Institut Mines Télécom, the #1 group of graduate schools of engineering and management in France under the supervision of the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Digital Technology, is assigned missions of education, research and innovation, transfer to industry and scientific, technological and industrial culture.

MSE consists of 2,400 graduate and postgraduate students, 400 staff, a consolidated budget of €46M, three sites on the Saint-Etienne campus (Auvergne Rhone-Alpes region, Lyon Saint-Etienne metropolitan area), a campus in Gardanne (SUD region, Aix Marseille metropolitan area), a site in Lyon within the digital campus of Auvergne Rhone-Alpes Region, six research units, five teaching and research centres and one of the leading French science community centres (La Rotonde €1M budget and +40,000 visitors per year). The Times Higher Education World University Ranking ranked us for 2022 in the 251-300 range for Engineering and Technology.  Our work environment is characterised by high Faculty-to-Student, Staff-to-Faculty and PhD-to-Faculty ratios, as well as comprehensive state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities for research, teaching and transfer to industry.

The CIS gathers 70 people, including 18 permanent teacher-researchers in industrial/computer engineering, biomechanics and process engineering around health applications: biotechnologies, tissue engineering, e-health, computer-assisted surgery, personalized medicine and patient pathways… Since its creation in 2004, the CIS has been representative of Mines Saint-Etienne’s ability to position itself as a leader in innovative fields such as Soft Tissue Biomechanics, Health Care Systems and Services Engineering, and Biomaterials and Inhaled Particles Engineering. The person recruited will also interact with the other centers of the School (SMS, SPIN, CMP in particular) in order to federate research and transfer actions in the field of biomechanics and bioengineering.

The SAnté INgénierie BIOlogie Saint-Etienne laboratory (SAINBIOSE, INSERM UMR 1059) brings together researchers from the CIS (biomechanics, biomaterials and bioengineering fields), the Jean Monnet University medical school, the Saint-Etienne University Hospital, Inserm and the Etablissement Français du Sang. The overall scientific objective of SAINBIOSE is a better understanding and innovative management of biostress in osteoarticular (LBTO team) and cardiovascular (DVH team) pathologies.

Biomechanics, both experimental and numerical, is a major transverse theme of SAINBIOSE, ranging from the modeling of the mechanical behavior of tissues to clinical and industrial applications, particularly with the textile sector. The dynamism of SAINBIOSE and the CIS in this field makes them world-class players today (ERC and other European funding, numerous international collaborations and industrial contracts). The approach developed is largely based on established skills in numerical simulation and identification of behavior laws. The study, monitoring and prediction of the biomechanical properties of soft tissues, or of their interactions with medical devices, are areas of excellence. An additional dimension, of very high added value, will be obtained by integrating artificial intelligence and data science.

Application deadline: April 15, 2022

More information:

Research Fellow position on Data-driven fitting for the next generation of prosthetic sockets @University of Southampton

Join an exciting interdisciplinary research team of biomedical engineers, prosthetists, physiotherapists, healthcare psychologists, social scientists and software engineers, who are developing a method of designing the bespoke prosthetic ‘socket’ interface between a person and their prosthetic limb, using artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret data from expert clinical designers. 

You will work primarily with academics at the University of Southampton (Dr Alex Dickinson, Dr Cheryl Metcalf, Dr Maggie Donovan-Hall and Dr Peter Worsley) on a project led by company partner Radii Devices Ltd (Dr Joshua Steer), with prosthetics service provider Opcare / Ability Matters Ltd.

Application deadline: Monday 28 February 2022

More information:

https://jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=1700622DA&fbclid=IwAR1SKX7sFdqYbcG0_6nbBtzVteUZIWp9Ooul6aKXEwCwK6vtOmzS81hZBEE

Post Doc Position @KL Krems, Austria

The Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences (KL) is part of an academic and research community located at the Campus Krems, and includes a network of comprising teaching hospitals in St. Pölten, Krems, Tulln and Eggenburg. KL is committed to raising its profile in specific areas of biomedicine, biomedical engineering, and biopsychosocial sciences by entering into strategic academic and research partnerships with other institutions.


From April 2022 the KL offers a 2-year research position at the Division „Biomechanics“ (Head: Univ. Prof. Dr. Dieter Pahr) with the option of getting permanent upon adequate performance:
Research Assistant/ Lab Manager (Post Doc) (40 h) (f/m/d). The Division Biomechanics is part of Prof. Pahr’s Interuniversity Biomechanics Laboratory, which also includes his research group at the TU Wien.


Your tasks:
• Independent experimental research activities in the field of musculoskeletal biomechanics
• Publication activities and writing of applications for external funding
• Teaching and support in administrative tasks
• Supervision of Bachelor, Master and PhD students
• Administration and maintenance of the laboratory infrastructure
• Support of the laboratory head


Your Profile:
• Completion of a suitable doctorate (e.g. mechanical engineering, physics, biomedical engineering, …)
• In-depth knowledge in biomechanical testing (material and/or implant testing incl. programming of measurement data analysis)
• Appropriate track record of publications in scientific journals as well as conference contributions.
• Experience with clinic-related research and imaging techniques (CT or MRI) would be an advantage
• Good German and very good English skills, both written and spoken
• Process-oriented, accurate, structured way of working with a strong ability to prioritize
• Open, resilient and flexible personality with a professional attitude


Your Perspective:
You can expect a challenging job in a highly motivated team. KL is committed to an anti-discriminatory employment policy and values equal opportunities and diversity. KL specifically encourages qualified people with different diversity characteristics (gender, age, ethnicity, denomination, sexual orientation, etc.) to apply. The minimum monthly gross salary for this position is 3,500 € (40 hrs) gross per month. Readiness for overpayment exists with appropriate experience and qualification.

Applications should include a motivation letter, curriculum vitae and credentials and should be mailed by 13th of March 2022 referring to jobnumber “2202” to Ms. Christina Schwaiger of the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30, 3500 Krems, Austria (bewerbung@kl.ac.at ).

Postdoc position on computational modeling of integrin signaling and cell-ECM interactions @Maastricht University

The department of Cell Biology-Inspired Tissue Engineering (cBITE) at the MERLN Institute for Technology-inspired Regenerative Medicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands invites applications for a post-doctoral position. The post-doctoral researcher will perform cutting-edge research in computational modeling methods applied to regenerative medicine and more specifically, to cell-matrix interactions.

Regenerative medicine (RM) holds the promise to cure many of what are now chronic patients, restoring health rather than protracting decline, bettering the lives of millions and at the same time preventing lifelong, expensive care processes: cure instead of care. The scientific community has made large steps in this direction over the past decade, however our understanding of the fundamentals of cell, tissue and organ regeneration and of how to stimulate and guide this with intelligent biomaterials in the human body is still in its infancy. To date, the RM field has focused on studying cell-biomaterial interactions. Materials properties such as elasticity, topography, hydrophobicity, and porosity have all been shown to influence cell fate, and the introduction of high-throughput combinatorial approaches is expediting research and decoupling the properties to further inform the design of biomaterials. However, in order to improve the design of synthetic biomaterials, it is crucial to understand the physiological cell-ECM interactions and how these influence cell behavior. This research project aims to use in silico models to simulate cell-ECM interactions, improve our fundamental understanding thereof and use the obtained knowledge to design improved synthetic matrices.

Project description:

  • Computational modeling of integrin signaling, cell-ECM interaction to inform the design of synthetic matrices;
  • Parameter optimization and sensitivity analysis;
  • Analysis and integration of various in vitro/in vivo data for model calibration.

What we offer:

  • Computational ecosystem at Maastricht University: Institute for Data Science (IDS), Department of Knowledge Engineering (DKE) and Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology (MacsBio);
  • Excellent computational and experimental facilities to validate the in silico analyses and predictions in vitro/in vivo;
  • Interdisciplinary environment within MERLN and the “Materials-driven regeneration (MDR)-consortium”

Project embedding:

The project will be coordinated by the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine (http://merln.maastrichtuniversity.nl/) as part of the “Materials-driven regeneration (MDR)-consortium” (see http://www.mdrresearch.nl/ for more information) which brings together an interdisciplinary team of excellent scientists at three leading institutes (ICMS at Eindhoven University of Technology, RMU at Utrecht University and MERLN at Maastricht University). The central goal of MDR’s research program is to investigate, design and use intelligent biomaterials that drive the functional regeneration of living tissues and organs under complex (patho)physiological conditions.

More information:

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/309006/post-doctoral-position-for-the-project-computational-modeling-of-the-cell-matrix-interface-at-the-department-of-cell-biology-inspired-tissue-engineering-cbite-at-the-merln-institute/

For more detailed information you can contact: dr. A. Carlier, email a.carlier@maastrichtuniversity.nl

2-year post-doctoral position in spine biomechanics @ University of Leeds

Do you have a strong technical background in experimental joint biomechanics with an interest in spine biomechanics? Would you like to work as part of a multidisciplinary institute to address a clinically-driven challenge?

We are looking for a proactive individual to join our team of researchers at the Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering at the University of Leeds, leading research on longer lasting joint replacements, tissue sparing interventions and biological scaffolds for tissue regeneration.

This role is created part of an EPSRC project aiming to characterise spinal facet joints biomechanics. In the UK, four out of five adults suffer from back pain at some point in their life, some of which require spinal fusion, an invasive intervention designed to stop the motion of the affected spinal area. After fusion however, facet joint degeneration can increase and create new symptoms and long term pain for one in four patients.

This project will develop novel testing methods and tools combining experimental and computational modelling to gain a better understanding of the degenerated facet joint biomechanics and how it changes following fusion. You will join a wider group developing in vitro and in silico preclinical models of musculoskeletal joints.

You will have a strong background in spine biomechanics or in experimental contact mechanics and have a proactive approach to working in an experimental and computational environment. You will join an institute that includes different expertise and substantial experience in supporting early stage researchers in a key phase of their career. We encourage an environment of collaboration, trust and wellbeing, which values difference of ideas and embraces diversity.

More info (job description and how to apply) available HERE
Contact: Marlène Mengoni

5 PhD positions @ MatureTissue

MatureTissue – https://dc-mature-tissue.at

CALL IS OPEN! APPLY HERE: https://dc-mature-tissue.at/application/

OPEN APPLICATION

MatureTissue offers a 4-year (48 months) employment contract for early stage researchers (PhD positions).
The goal of the DC MatureTissue is to train future leaders who will bridge engineering and biology to find solutions for a healthy and aging society.

APPLY HERE: https://dc-mature-tissue.at/application/

WHAT ARE THE GOALS?

Research into healthy aging not only means to investigate fast killers, like cancer or SARS-CoV-2, but also the musculoskeletal aches in our bodies. Aches may start small, but they can become severe and significantly impair the quality of life, especially at older age. This is a clear unmet clinical need, and well-documented joint research interest of the MatureTissue faculty members. MatureTissue is perfectly aligned with the overall research strategies of the Technikum Wien and TU Wien.

MatureTissue is underpinned by a consortium of researchers from the Technikum and TU Wien bringing together both applied and basic science focus; only by this bundling of expertise all essential topics are covered: bioreactorsmicrofluidicsbiomechanics, molecular biologyand analytical chemistry. We, the MatureTissue faculty, want to recruit 5 outstanding PhD students and work together to address important challenges of musculoskeletal conditions by maturing 3D cell constructs to functional artificial tissues of bone, tendon, cartilage and muscle by controlled mechanical stimulation.

Lecturer in Fluid Biomechanics @UTC Compiegne

The Biological Fluid Structure Interactions team (IFSB) of the Biomechanics and Bioengineering laboratory (BMBI) of UTC Compiegne, specialized in the study of physiological flows and therapeutic techniques associated with the cardiovascular system, is recruiting a Lecturer in fluid biomechanics, whether approached experimentally, numerically or theoretically. In particular, it wishes to strengthen research work related to blood macrocirculation.

The candidate must, if possible, demonstrate solid skills in hemodynamics in large vessels, with multi-scale and/or multi-physical approaches, or in connection with endovascular medical devices.

The team nevertheless remains open to any other proposal for a research topic related to the biomechanics of fluids.

Candidates with skills in the fields of fluid mechanics and/or fluid/structure interactions but with a proven interest in biomedical applications will also be considered.

More information: https://bmbi.utc.fr

Post-Doctoral Position on Biomechanics of soft fibrous tissue @Gustave Eiffel University and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University

The Biomechanics and Impact Mechanics Laboratory (LBMC UMR_T9406) is a joint research unit of Gustave Eiffel University and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University. Around forty permanent staff with complementary skills (solid, structural mechanics, surgeons etc.) work within the LBMC.

Based on societal challenges, the LBMC leads researches, on two research themes:

  • Facilitating travel (automated vehicles, autonomous travel)
  • Maintaining good health  (functional capacities, the repaired body: the implant in its environment).

The LBMC has a strong expertise in mechanical characterization of biological tissues. It is a member of the LabEx PRIMES and IMU, and co-leads the International Associated Laboratory (EVASYM) between Lyon and Montreal.
Statice, founded in 1978, has strong expertise in biomaterials and mechatronics, with applications in health field: medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic tools. Statice develops and produces innovative and customized implants and laboratory equipment in fields requiring advanced technologies such as cardiovascular, neurology, urology, oncology, ophthalmology, etc. Thanks to 30 staff members (PhD, engineers and technicians) and a mechanical and electronic workshop, Statice carries out around one hundred industrial projects per year. At the same time, its SRC label awarded by BPI-FRANCE/OSEO enables it to be involved in medium and long-term upstream research work. Statice is regularly an industrial partner in French and European research projects, to remain at the forefront of tomorrows technologies. Statice is thus recognized in Europe for its innovativeness.

The LBMC and Statice are involved in a new collaborative project supported by the France relance plan, with the aim of characterizing the microstructure and mechanical behavior of the tunica albuginea, and developing a biocompatible substitute produced by electrospinning. This collaboration also involves clinicians from the Urology Department of the Lyon Sud Hospital (Hospices Civils de Lyon). Within the framework of this project, the LBMC and Statice are recruiting a post-doctoral fellow for a period of 18 months.

The future employee tasks will be to:

  • Develop experimental protocols for the characterization of the tunica albuginea, including the quantification of its microstructural arrangement and mechanical behavior, at LBMC,
  • Plan and carry out a series of tests on tunica albuginea samples of cadaver or surgical origin, at the LBMC,
  • Process data with the development of dedicated scripts, at the LBMC and Statice,
  • Contribute to the definition of parameters for the development of prototype synthetic substitutes based on the knowledge acquired on tunica albuginea, at Statice,
  • Contribute to the development of synthetic fibrous tissues by electrospinning, at Statice,
  • Draft and present to the project stakeholders a mid-term and a final report,
  • Write and present scientific papers.

The candidate should have strong skills in experimental characterization and analytical modelling of the mechanical behavior of soft fibrous tissues. He/she will preferably have experience in applying these skills to materials developed using electrospinning or biological materials. Soft skills and good communication skills will be appreciated.

The candidate will be recruited by the Gustave Eiffel University for 18 months. The salary and benefits associated with the position are defined by this institution.

During the whole contract, the candidate will work half of the time at LBMC in Bron (69-France) and the other half at Statice (25-France) according to a schedule to be defined.

To apply, please send simultaneously to Karine BRUYERE (karine-bruyere-garnier@univ-eiffel.fr), Laure-Lise GRAS (laure-lise.gras@univ-lyon1.fr), Melanie OTTENIO (melanie.ottenio@univ-lyon1.fr) and Hugues MONDESERT (h.mondesert@statice.com) and before 24 January 2022, a letter of motivation, a CV and contact information for a recommendation.


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