Research Associate

Are you interested in developing the first Virtual Mouse Twin for the optimisation of treatments for Osteoporosis?

This highly interdisciplinary post-doctoral research associate (PDRA) position will advance our understanding of the effect of the combined biomechanical and pharmacological treatments on musculoskeletal biomechanics using longitudinal mouse data, image processing, and multiscale computational models.

The position is within Insigneo and is funded as part of a project selected by the ERC-Consolidator and funded by the EPSRC that aims to develop and validate new multiscale computational models for optimising treatments for OP. This part of the project is focused on the development and integration of multiscale computational models (Virtual Mouse Twin, VMT) to predict bone adaptation over time and validating their outputs against state-of-the-art longitudinal mouse experiments. The VMT will be used to test new interventions against Osteoporosis in silico.

The ideal candidate will have an excellent PhD in computational bone biomechanics or a related discipline. They will possess a solid knowledge of bone physiology, biomechanics and adaptation, finite element models for bones, and approaches to validate the computational models. Ensuring the achievement of the project objectives will advance the vision of the Insigneo institute to validate computational models for the musculoskeletal system and produce a transformational impact on healthcare. The PDRA will also sustain and strengthen collaboration within relevant Insigneo research groups and beyond; and will commit to Insigneo’s mission to produce high quality and impactful cutting-edge research.

You will join the group of Prof. Enrico Dall’Ara. Our biomechano-imaging group has an international and interdisciplinary profile and a strong commitment to clinical and industrial translation with impact in future healthcare. We are active in imaging and biomechanics of the skeletal systems and we have access to a fully equipped mouse movement analysis laboratory, a biomechanical laboratory, ex vivo and in vivo imaging facilities, and state of the art computational resources, including access to the University high performance computing server Stanage. You will also be part of the Integrative Musculoskeletal Biomechanics (IMSB) group within Insigneo and actively engage with the activities organized by the group. The IMSBis formed by eleven Principal Investigators and their teams (in total ~40 members), with expertise in multiscale imaging and experimental and computational musculoskeletal biomechanics.

The successful candidate will develop state of the art multiscale computational models to predict bone adaptation over time due to biomechanical and/or pharmacological interventions. The developed VMT will be validated against advanced longitudinal assessment of bone adaptation.

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