Office of Undergraduate Research

Multi-Scale Modeling Of The Pharmaco-Mechanical Behaviors Of Drug-Eluting Stent (DES) Medical Devices

The objective of the project is to study the mechanism of thrombosis/restenosis (i.e., narrowing of arterial wall) and to develop a robust model to predict coupled pharmaco-mechanical behaviors in drug-eluting stent devices to treat diseased heart arteries. A multi-scale (meso- and macro-scale) computational model employing finite element analysis (FEA) and finite volume method (FVM) techniques will be developed. Experimentally measured/nanoscopically calculated material properties (i.e., thermodynamic, kinetic, and mechanical) and device geometries of commercial products are incorporated into the model.

Tasks and responsibilities:

Typical student tasks and responsibilities will include 1) literature survey for pharmaco-mechanical material property data collection, 2) initial mesh generation for FEA and FVM modeling, 3) geometry data transfer from commercial product to FEA and FVM modeling, and 4) running mesoscopic FEA and FVM simulations with simplified geometries and material properties.