XClose

Multiscale Cardiovascular Engineering Group

Menu

Funded Projects

WEISS: Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (May 2017 - April 2022)

Surgical procedures account for a third of all hospital admissions in England. By combining the strength of engineering and clinical sciences at UCL WEISS aims to ensure that innovative engineering solutions are reaching the clinic to benefit patients.

Our Centre will create an intuitive and highly personalised surgical platform that enables more precise, less invasive procedures. Greater precision also means more patients will be viable for complicated but life-altering surgery and those treated will benefit from safer, more localised treatments and a shorter recovery time in hospital.

The research is being developed with a wide range of clinical applications in mind, including vascular, paediatric, ophthalmic, neurological and prostate surgical interventions. In particular, the Centre will advance engineering sciences in intraoperative imaging and sensing, data fusion and extraction, human-technology interfaces, tissue modelling, interventional instrumentation and surgical navigation

Investigation of the Heamodynamics of Dissected Aortas: An In-Vitro, In-Vivo and In-Silico Study (September 2015 - August 2019)

Funding Body: British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Building on our own work, we will develop of current patient-specific models of Aortic Dissections and we will validate our work using PIV on a mock circuit of the circulation to test patient-specific conditions.  We will compare with clinical data afterwards.



VPH CaSE: VPH-Cardiovascular Simulation and Experimentation for Personalised Medical Devices (January 2015 - January 2019)

Funding Body: European Commission, H2020, Marie Curie actions

VPH CaSE is focused on state-of-the-art developments in personalised cardiovascular support, underpinned by simulation and experimentation, building on the foundations of the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) Initiative. 


The research will focus on three research clusters
(i) Cardiac tissue function and cardiac support
(ii) Cardiovascular haemodynamics - pathology and intervention
(iii) Image-based diagnosis and imaging quality assurance.

The work will be directed by the needs of industrial and clinical beneficiaries and partners. The inclusion of a technology translation SME within the consortium is designed to promote the delivery of novel, tangible research outputs, providing benefits to a breadth of European sectors (eg. biomedical, clinical, VPH). 

Back to Top


PERSONALISED MEDICINE through learning in the model space (April 2013 - March 2016)

Funding Body: EPSRC, IDEAS Factory

This project will work on developing new mathematics for personalised healthcare using different model paradigms 

Back to Top

MD PAEDIGREE: A clinically led project for personalised and predictive treatment in paediatrics (February 2013 - January 2017) 

Funding Body: European Commission, Cooperation Programme, ICT for Health

The Project "MD_Paedigree" is a clinically led project developing a model-driven data and workflow-based digital repository for personalised and predictive treatment in paediatrics.

Back to Top

DISCIPULUS: A Roadmap towards the VPH 'Digital Patient' (October 2011-March 2013)

Funding Body: European Commission, Cooperation Programme, ICT for Health

The Project: The project "DISCIPULUS" aims at the grand challenge of writing a Roadmap for the 'Digital VPH Patient'. The 'Digital VPH Patient' is an avatar of the models and individual data that allow health prediction and disease treatment when the digital data of a citizen needs to avail itself of health services. In essence, the 'Digital VPH Patient' constitutes a revolutionary Clinical Prediction and Decision Support System.

Back to Top


MeDDiCA: Medical Devices Design in Cardiovascular Applications (October 2009 - September 2013)

Funding Body: European Commission, PEOPLE programme, Initial Training Networks

Is an innovative, multi-disciplinary and multi-centre Marie Curie Initial Training Network (MC ITN) focused on Cardiovascular Engineering and Medical Devices.

MeDDiCA Early Stage Researchers will build a career in cardiovascular engineering founded on both "skills for life" (communication skills, research and project management, IP, patenting, entrepreneurship, etc.) and "academic and technical skills". The ultimate aim of MeDDiCA is to form well-rounded individuals, unlocking their potential in order to give them tools to succeed in an extremely changing area.

Back to Top


VPH-MIP, Multi-Institutional Programme for the training of scientists on the Virtual Physiological Human (October 2010 - February 2013)

Funding Body: European Commission, ERASMUS programme

Currently there is no formal VPH-specific training in Europe. Some MSc programmes in related areas partially address this challenge, but none focuses on the essential characteristics of the discipline, such as heterogeneous data fusion, multi-scale and multi-physics modelling of physiopathology, and simulation of complex clinical work-flows. VPH-MIP will address this deficiency by developing a framework for VPH graduate programmes.

In a multi-disciplinary field such as the VPH, it is essential that students have a solid scientific grounding. The curriculum envisaged, will be tailored to VPH needs, but will be founded in relevant, and successful, pre-existing programmes at partner institutions. Novel VPH-specific modules covering core topics will be developed for use in all participating institutions and delivered through intensive use of ICT technologies, facilitating cultural and language adaptations. In addition, mobility between institutions, facilitated by ERASMUS exchange, will be encouraged enabling students to complement training provided by their primary institution by undertaking selected specialist modules at a second institution. In the longer term, joint or double awards are envisaged.

Back to Top


Equipment Grant (Cluster): In-Silico Workflow For The Patient-Specific Simulation Of Cardiac Valves (- till December 2011)

Funding Body: Royal Society

The award of this grant has allowed the group to buy a cluster in order to produce clinically-friendly workflows for patient-specific simulations.

Back to Top


PhD + (November 2011 - October 2012)

Funding Body: UCL/EPSRC

Back to Top


Other Research Projects

Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence

The Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence is an umbrella pan-European project, coordinated by UCL within the "Virtual Physiological Human Initiative" funded by the European Commission.

The Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence (VPH NoE) has been designed with 'service to the community' of VPH researchers as its primary purpose. Its aims range from the development of a VPH ToolKit and associated infrastructural resources, through integration of models and data across the various relevant levels of physiological structure and functional organisation, to VPH community building and support.

The VPH NoE aims to foster the development of new and sustainable educational, training and career structures for those involved in VPH related science, technology and medicine.

The VPH NoE constitutes a leading group of universities, institutes and organisations who will, by integrating their experience and ongoing activities in VPH research, promote the creation of an environment that actively supports and nurtures interdisciplinary research, education, training and strategic development.

The VPH NoE will lead the coordination of diverse activities within the VPH Initiative to help deliver: new environments for predictive, patient-specific, evidence-based, more effective and safer healthcare; improved semantic interoperability of biomedical information and contribution to a common health information infrastructure; facile, on-demand access to distributed European computational infrastructure to support clinical decision making; and increased European multidisciplinary research excellence in biomedical informatics and molecular medicine by fostering closer cooperation between ICT, medical device, medical imaging, pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

The VPH NoE will connect the diverse VPH Initiative projects, including not only those funded as part of the VPH initiative but also those of previous EC frameworks and national funding schemes, together with industry, healthcare providers, and international organisations, thereby ensuring that these impacts will be realised.

Back to Top