Newsletter 6

September 2018

Funder information This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 642612

VPH CaSE at UCL - 19th and 20th of July 2018

The VPH-CaSE network organised a two-day conference entitled Frontiers of Simulation and Experimentation for Personalised Cardiovascular Management and Treatment which was hosted by University College London on the 19th and 20th of July 2018. The Conference successfully brought together more than 40 young researchers working at the frontier of cardiovascular research and provided them with a platform to showcase their results and to discuss the latest ideas in cardiovascular engineering for personalised Cardiovascular Management and Treatment with experienced scientists, engineers, educators and other young investigators. The focus of the Conference was on research working towards translation of the tools, methods and approaches presented in the context of cardiovascular disease. It provided a truly multi-disciplinary and dynamic environment with both Industrial and Clinical participants. The keynote speaker was Professor Alan Dardik from Yale University who spoke on the research carried out at his laboratory on the healing and function of blood vessels, fistulae and vessel patches that are used in patients having vascular surgery. The plenary speakers were Professor Blanca Rodrigues,

University of Oxford, who spoke on computational modelling and simulation of cardiac electrophysiology, Miss Janice Tsui, Royal Free Hospital London, with a talk was entitled: ‘The challenges of managing the diabetic foot: engineering potential solutions’ and Professor Rod Hose, University of Sheffield, who spoke about the EurValve project. A plenary industry career session was held to discuss career progression for early researchers with talks by Evangelos Emmanouil from Cambridge Consultants, Adrian Walker form Leeds Test Object Ltd and Cesar Pichardo from Certara. The best work of the Conference will be invited to submit full papers for a special issue on

Medical Engineering and Physics from the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) and on the new ASME Journal of Engineering and Science in Medical Diagnostics and Therapy. The conference was sponsored by UCL Engineering, UCL Mechanical Engineering, UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS), Leeds Test Objects, Insigneo, Ansys and CERTARA. Lastly, awards were given for the best works in three different categories; the winner and runner-up for best experimental work were Louis Fixsen and Gaia Franzetti, Boram Gu and Mirko Bonfanti for best simulation in the vascular field, and Carlos Ledezma and Maciej Marciniak for best cardiac simulation, congratulations!

VPH CaSE at UCL, 19th and 20th July 2018

Inside this issue

Front cover: VPH CaSE at UCL - 19th and 20th of July 2018

Page 2 : Outreach Event at UCL, London ESRs at WCB 2018, Dublin, Ireland

Page 3: Researcher Profiles: Susanna, Jeroen

Page 4: Women in Science: Rita Levi-Montalcini

2

The VPH-CaSE Consortium hosted an outreach event on the eve of the Frontiers of

Simulation and Experimentation for Personalized Cardiovascular Management and

Treatment conference held at University College London.

The event was focused on showing a wider audience how the work that we do could aid

in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Several VPH-CaSE Early Stage

Researchers (ESRs) were given a chance to either show their cutting edge work in the

form of a demonstration, or to use their knowledge gained to teach others about

important factors and limitations of cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment. New

widespread technologies, such as virtual reality, were applied to really give participants a

hands on experience.

In addition to fun and games, a competition was also held where contestants had to

identify several famous scientists depicted by photos and a few fun facts about them.

Although everyone who participated is a winner in our books, we would like to recognize

the person with the most correct answers: a 17 year old high-school student—Mahak.

That’s right, she hasn’t even attended university yet and still won against university

educated students. Who knows, maybe one day she’ll have her picture in a similar contest?

ESRs at WCB 2018, Dublin, Ireland

Emilia and Kenny at the outreach events.

Outreach Event at University College London

Kenny (top) and Benjamin (bottom) engaging

interactive activities with the visitors

The 8th World Congress of Biomechanics held every four years was hosted this year in Dublin between the 8th and 12th of July.

Ten of the VPH-CaSE Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) were selected to present posters or to give oral presentations on their work.

The oral and poster presentation sessions were jam-packed with presentations

from both early and late stage researchers (i.e., tenured professors) sharing their

state-of-the-art research and results. It was a great way for the ESRs to network

with other like-minded researchers and heads of other research groups that they

may end up joining in the future as the VPH-CaSE project wraps up. During the

event, exhibitors from industry were in attendance to showcase the work that their

companies do in the field of biomechanics, and perhaps to also attract young minds

eager to apply their academic knowledge into industrial applications. And of course,

there was some fun to be had as well.

The organization invited all participants to an Irish dinner at none other than the Guinness Storehouse, complete with traditional

Irish music and Irish step dancing. Many people had time to walk around and experience the streets of Dublin and unique locations

such as the Trinity College Library. During this time ,the semi-final matches for the 2018 FIFA World Cup were held, allowing re-

searchers from France, Belgium, Croatia, and England, to represent not only their research institutions but also their home coun-

tries among the international crowd for some friendly rivalry.

WCB 2018, Dublin, Ireland

3

Researcher profiles

3

Susanna Migliori Politecnico di Milano Patient-specific modelling of bifurcation stenting procedures for interventional planning

“C: Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy and Royal Sussex Country Hospital in Brighton, UK I: ANSYS in Lyon, France A: University College London, UK”

“We developed a framework to study the outcomes of stenting procedures in terms of fluid dynamics quantities. The hemodynamics in treated coronary artery segments of 16 patients were simulated and the results were disseminated as journal papers”

You can find a complete bio of the ESRs of the VPH-CaSE network in our website: www.vph-case.eu

Where did you do your clinical (C), industrial (I), and academic (A) secondments?

What exciting results do you have now that the project is nearly over?

“My future plan is to pursue a career further in scientific research. I am currently seeking an interesting post-doctoral position.”

What is your future plan after VPH-CaSE?

Jeroen Feher ANSYS Development of a comprehensive toolkit for computational hemodynamics and application of reduced order modelling techniques

What opportunities have been provided by being a Marie

Curie fellow have you have enjoyed?

“Being a Marie Curie ESR has allowed me to travel more than

would have been possible in a traditional PhD. I had an

opportunity to collaborate with different institutions and

experience how each one approaches research and

development. But more importantly and enjoyable was that it

gave me the chance to meet many wonderful people

including the ESRs within the network. “

What is the biggest obstacle you have faced in your PhD

project so far?

“I think properly managing a PhD project between industry

and academia has been challenging while moving to a

different country in which you don’t speak the language

would be a very close second. But both these challenges have

provided me with very valuable experience for the future and

required me to acquire many new skills along the way. “

Tell us a bit about a typical day at work for you.

“As part of the research team of ANSYS Lyon, I enjoy a great

and flexible work environment. The day often starts off with a

meeting over coffee to discuss the plans of the day. My

colleagues are very friendly, always willing to help and have

exposed me to many different subjects and problems in

engineering besides my own.”

4

Contact Details

Dr John Fenner, Dr Andrew Narracott (Scientific Coordinators), Karen El-Arifi (Project Manager)

Medical Physics Group, Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease Faculty of Medicine

Dentistry & Health, University of Sheffield

Medical School, Beech Hill Road

Sheffield S10 2RX, United Kingdom

Email: j.w.fenner@sheffield.ac.uk, a.j.narracott@sheffield.ac.uk, karen.el-arifi@sheffield.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0114) 2159526, 2159540, 2220165

vph-case.eu

Italian neurophysiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Torino on

April 22, 1909 to a Jewish family. Despite the attitude of those years

and the belief that women should not pursue a career, she enrolled in

the Faculty of Medicine at Turin University in 1930. After her

graduation (cum laude degree), she became a research assistant and

worked as neurohistologist under the mentorship of neurohistologist

Giuseppe Levi. At that time, Giuseppe Levi was simultaneously tutor of

microbiologist Salvador Edward Luria, virologist Renato Dulbecco and

early stage researcher Rita Levi-Montalcini, all future Nobel prize

winners. In 1942, she performed experiments on chicken embryos to

characterise cell growth. However, her career as researcher was short.

World War II and antisemitic laws banned Jews from professional

careers. On the invitation of the neurological institute in Brussels, she

moved to Belgium and eventually sought refuge back to Italy because

of the German invasion of Belgium.

When World War II ended, she

regained her academic position at

the University of Turin and two

years later she joined the Washington University (USA) for a one-year residency on

the invitation of Viktor Hamburger. Because of the striking results she obtained in

studying neural development and its mechanisms of control she accepted a

permanent research position and remained in the USA for more than 30 years. After

a visiting period at the Institute of Biophysics of Rio de Janeiro, she moved back in

USA and accepted a position as Full Professor. Working with biochemist Stanley

Cohen, she isolated nerve-growth-factor (NGF), a protein that stimulates the growth

of nerve cells. For their discovery, Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini were

awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1986. She is the only Italian

female awarded with a Nobel Prize for science. She also received the Lasker Award

for Medical Research and the National Medal of Science. She founded the Institute

of Cell Biology of the Italian National Council of Research and the European Brain

Research Institute in Rome. She was ambassador of the United Nations Food and

Agriculture Organization, Senator for Life of the Italian Republic, first woman

admitted at the Pontifical Academy of Science and tenth woman to be elected to the

American National Academy of Science.

Women in Science: Rita Levi-Montalcini

“

One never notices what

has been done; one can

only see what remains

to be

done

Source https://www.paperepiphanies.com/

blog/2018/4/17/woman-of-the-week-rita-levi-

montalcini-1

htt

ps://w

ww

.bio

graph

y.com

/new

s/marie

-curie

-bio

graph

y-facts

” Marie Skłodowska Curie

1867—1934