An engineering approach to assess effect of bleeding on bone for patients with bleeding disorders

This project will use a combination of multiscale in-silico and in-vitro approaches developed for bone diseases with similar presentations to Haemophilia Joint Disease (HJD). Together, these methods will answer whether changes in mechanoregulation predicts the appearance of cysts, and whether the cysts or the blood in itself are the main cause of morphological changes in the ankle; defining an aetiology of the onset of ankle haemarthropathy.

Example of specific approaches:

Understand changes in the joint biomechanics due to changes in bone for HJD: Joint level computational models based on MRI and high-resolution CT images will be validated against in-vitro data. In-vitro, you will measure joint biomechanics and pressure for non-diseased donor ankles which will be altered to create defects similar to HJD presentation. In-silico you will predict changes in internal pressure for patients with HJD

Model changes in bone mechanoregulation due to Haemophilia and other blood disorders: you will develop mechanoregulation network models to account for genetic changes and direct blood exposure on bone remodelling and adaptation

Assess the effect of blood exposure on bone tissue micro-mechanical environment and cells: you will develop in vitro and in silico fundamental work to isolate the biomechanical effect of specific molecules or for specific bone cells