BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH
Explore our work in this area of expertise, one of two within our Mechanical Engineering research
We're working at the interface of engineering, life sciences and biomedical sciences to deliver research with socioeconomic impact – including health technology and bio-inspired materials.
One particular area of impact is in meeting the challenges posed by an ageing global population. Our research embraces the UK government's Industrial Strategy in enhancing healthy ageing. Recent projects have seen us develop innovative health technologies, bio-inspired materials and medical implants which will significantly improve clinical care and help promote clinical excellence.
Our multidisciplinary research focuses on the key topics of musculoskeletal biomechanics, cardiovascular engineering and biomedical imaging (and a range of sub-topics, outlined below) – and the outputs of our work are frequently published in leading journals within the field, including Health Technology, Scientific Reports, Age and Ageing, Clinical Biomechanics, and the Journal of Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Materials.
Our research covers the following key sub-topics
- Biomechanics
- Bio-inspired structure
- Bone Mechanics
- Cardiovascular Mechanics
- Computational modelling in biological structure
- Continuum Mechanics
- Health technology
- Hemodynamics
- Image Processing
- Prosthetic Limb Design
Facilities
Our facilities include the latest in manufacturing technology, such as 3D printing (multimaterial and laser sintering).
The University is also home to new bespoke biaxial mechanical testing systems for studying soft tissue mechanics, and a range of low energy bluetooth wearable sensors – including accelerometers, oximeters and electromoygraphic sensors – which will allow us to develop mobile healthcare technologies for various healthcare applications.
The Future Technology Centre also supports the work we're doing in 3D microCT imaging and numerical/FE modelling
Partnerships and collaborations
Our key strategic partners include:
- Diamond Light Source
- Carl Zeiss Ltd
- GlaxoSmithKlein
- The National Heart and Lung Institute, London
- The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London
- Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth
Funding
Recent research projects have attracted funding from the Royal Society, and from research councils such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Our work has also received funding support from organisations within the industrial sector, such as Zeiss.
Recent publication highlights include
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Loading dose of physical activity is related to muscle strength and bone density in middle-aged women
Bone, Volume 67, 2014, p.41-45, Jaswinder Chahal, Raymond Lee, Jin Luo
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Tendon fascicle-inspired nanofibrous scaffold of polylactic acid/collagen with enhanced 3D-structure and biomechanical properties
Scientific Reports, Volume 8, 2018, Article number 17167, Alberto Sensini, Chiara Gualandi, Andrea Zucchelli, Liam A. Boyle, Alexander P. Kao, Gwendolen C. Reilly, Gianluca Tozzi, Luca Cristofolini, Maria Letizia Focarete
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Effect of SR-microCT radiation on the mechanical integrity of trabecular bone using in situ mechanical testing and digital volume correlation
Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials Volume 88, 2018, Pages 109-119, Marta Peña Fernández, Silvia Cipiccia, Enrico Dall’Ara, Andrew J.Bodey, Rachna Parwani, Martino Pani, Gordon W. Blunn, Asa H. Barber, Gianluca Tozzi
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Application of digital volume correlation to study the efficacy of prophylactic vertebral augmentation
Clinical Biomechanics Volume 39, 2016, Pages 14-24, Valentina Danesi, Gianluca Tozzi, Luca Cristofolini
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A transverse isotropic constitutive model for the aortic valve tissue incorporating rate-dependency and fibre dispersion: Application to biaxial deformation
Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials Volume 85, 2018, Pages 80-93, Afshin Anssari-Benam, Yuan-Tsan Tseng, Andrea Bucchi
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The effect of thickness measurement on numerical arterial models
Materials Science and Engineering: C, Volume 76, 2017, p. 1205-1215, Serenade Gelidi, Gianluca Tozzi, Andrea Bucchi
Discover our areas of expertise
Biomedical engineering is one of our two areas of research expertise in Mechanical Engineering - explore the other, below.
Materials Engineering
Research groups
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Biomedical Engineering Research Group
We're researching how to better understand the body through imaging and biomechanics.
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Future Technology Centre
We're researching the competence of biological structures, biomaterials, and bio-inspired engineering materials using advanced X-Ray microscopy.
Interested in a PhD in Mechanical & Design Engineering?
Browse our postgraduate research degrees – including PhDs and MPhils – at our Mechanical & Design Engineering postgraduate research degrees page.