4 year PhD scholarship available at the BioEngineering lab - University of Seville (Spain)

Summary of the project: The main goal of the research project is to develop an in vivo, ex vivo and in silico platform to provide an enhanced understanding of changes in bone mechanobiology during osteoporotic distraction osteogenesis and fracture healing. In particular, we want to evaluate the complex changes in tissue composition and bone architecture during these bone regeneration processes in a single animal osteoporotic model with a multiple study which allows obtaining: (1) mechanical parameters in vivo (force through the defect, stiffness), (2) local mechanical properties ex vivo (elastic modulus), (3) quantifiable structural and compositional heterogeneity in the newly formed bone  (bone volume, rate of production of bone tissue, bone mineral density etc) and (4) alterations in the collagen network of bone. From a computational point of view, a multiscale methodology is proposed to be developed to investigate the relationship between changes in bone microstructure (collagen network) and the macroscopic mechanical properties during DO osteoporosis.

The Bioengineering Lab at the University of Seville is a multidisciplinary team of professors, senior researchers, postdoctoral fellows and students. We have a strong track record in solving challenges at the interface between mechanics, biology and physics in an effort to translate solutions from the bench to the bedside. We have extensive on-campus collaborations with other groups as well as external collaborations with leading Spanish and research labs in the USA and Europe.  

If you are interested, for more details please contact Prof. José A. Sanz-Herrera (jsanz@us.es). In the email please include your CV and your research interests.