Individual PhD Project Information:
Host institution: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany.
Supervisory team: Prof. Silvia Budday (PhD supervisor, FAU), Dr Zhou Zhou PhD co-supervisor, KTH), Dr Xiaogai Li (PhD co-cupervisor, KTH), Dr Oliver Frings (secondment host, Siemens Healthineer).
Enrolment in Doctoral School: Enrolled in Department of Mechanical Engineering (FAU) and the School of Technology and Health (KTH).
PhD Project Description:
This PhD project will focus on generating a full-scale human brain finite element model that accounts for regional and age-related changes in the mechanical properties of brain tissue. The objectives are:
- Examine the regional and age-related variations in the tissue structural parameters;
- Assess the changes in the brain tissue mechanical properties due to ageing and disease;
- Develop age-dependent material models for the different regions of the brain integrating previously generated data (mechanical data, microstructural data from histological images, and in vivo structural data from magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging);
- Implement the material models into full-scale brain models;
- Perform benchmark simulations of brain atrophy related to healthy ageing and diseases
A successful project can result in an improved understanding of the changes in the mechanical properties of the brain tissue due to ageing and potentially neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer and Parkinson), novel Finite Element models of the ageing brain incorporating human data, and curated dataset for healthy ageing studies.
Planned secondments:
- KTH Neuronic Engineering: Aims to gain knowledge in the generation of person-specific finite element models of the ageing brain.
- Siemens Healthineers: Opportunity for the DC to gain knowledge on the integration of in silico technologies in an industry setting.