Research

I have developed modelling methods for the spine; the intervertebral disc and facets (zygapophysial) joints in particular. Those methods build on the concept of direct-controlled calibration and validation for in silico models:

• The terms direct calibration and validation define processes where specimen-specific models derived from corresponding experimental (in vitro or in vivo) data are employed, and the same measures are compared in the models and experiments (as first described by Jones and Wilcox in 2008).

• The terms controlled calibration and validation define the way in which the experimental data is acquired, such that it enables an exact replication of loads and boundary conditions in the model; this is typically data acquired in vitro.

Direct-controlled calibration and validation provides confidence that the model development methodology can capture the measurable variation within the population of tested specimens. It can also provide direct understanding of how the tissue behave, controlling all aspects but the unknowns of interest.

Those methods are being or have been translated to other joints and tissues through PhD projects and collaborations: hips (natural tissues and interaction between implant and bone), ankles (bone), and knee (bone and ligaments).

• PI of EPSRC New Investigator Award Spine-Facets (2022-2025)

• Academic team member of EPSRC programme grant Optimising knee therapies through improved population stratification and precision of the intervention led by Prof. Ruth Wilcox  (2016-2022).

My full list of publication can be found on orcid or here.

Further, I currently supervise students working on

• characterisation of meniscus repair in the knee (Sherif Zantiba, co-supervisor)

• modelling changes in cartilage mechanics in hemarthrosis (PVS Mahesh, main supervisor),

• characterising osteochondral repairs post implentation in an ovine knee model (Lara Esquivel, co-supervisor)

I have supervised student working on modelling the geomerty and impingement in the hip (Robert Cooper, Jiacheng Yao), modelling spinal ligaments (Ayesha Bint-E-Siddiq, co-supervisor), multi-scale characterisation of subchondral bone in the ankle (Lekha Koria, co-supervisor), modelling changes in ankle morphology and contact mechanics in hemarthrosis (Hattie Talbott), in vitro biomechanical evaluation of intervertebral disc therapies (Andrew Dixon), characterisation of subchondral bone lesions in the knee (Segun Kayode), and mesh morphing for the meniscus (Adam Kelly).

I am willing to supervise graduate students who are interested in the biomechanics of musculoskeletal joints and tissues. Contact me for more information.

All research projects conrtribute to several open-source toolboxes for Abaqus pre-processing, post-processing and optimisation (all available on github):

• 2DImage2Mesh: Tools to build a good quality abaqus quad mesh from a 2D image, using Simpleware scanIP as image processing software 

• PostPro4Abq: A set of tools to read an abaqus odb, generate relevant outputs, and write them to files 

• Opti4Abq: An optimisation toolbox that runs on a set of abaqus models to minimise the difference (in a least square sense) between the FEA output and the corresponding set of experimental data - description and verification of the tools is available in a 2020 paper. There is also a videocast describing the tools available