ELCACT/BME Faculty Candidate Seminar: Pim Oomen, Ph.D., University of Virginia

Biomechanics of Cardiac Growth and Remodeling: from Bench to Bedside

Abstract: In contrast to traditional engineering materials, biological tissues exhibit a remarkable ability to grow and remodel in response to sustained changes in their environment. Tissue adaptation plays a crucial role in the onset and progression of cardiovascular diseases, but can at the same time also be leveraged to improve or design potential therapies. Yet, the mechanics of growth and remodeling are not well established and differ from patient to patient, leading to challenges in both patient diagnosis and treatment. I will show how one can leverage a combination of computational and experimental biomechanics and tissue engineering approaches to elucidate the mechanics of growth and remodeling. Moreover, I will showcase how our novel multiscale computational model of cardiac biomechanics and growth and remodeling can be used at the bedside, or even during surgery, to predict and optimize patient-specific heart failure therapy outcome, taking into account electromechanics, scar and drug regimen.

Bio: Pim Oomen is a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Virginia. Prior to coming to the U.S., he received his doctorate in biomedical engineering in 2018 at the Eindhoven University of Technology in his native Netherlands. His research in cardiac biomechanics focuses on developing multiscale computational and experimental approaches, in conjunction with clinical data, to investigate the mechanics of growth and remodeling in cardiovascular tissues and to harness these processes to improve and design clinical therapies.