Fully-funded PhD - A micromechanical approach to quantify failure risk in metastatic trabecular bone

Are you interested in learning to use mechanics to improve lives? 

Bone metastasis occurs when cancer cells spread to bones, causing short life expectancies and life-debilitating symptoms. Fracture of metastatic bone remains challenging to predict, meaning that treatment such as physiotherapy (often following surgery) must be conservative, extending recovery times. Understanding the mechanics of metastatic bone failure, by using enriched continuum models (such as micropolar ones, that have been shown to accurately model trabecular bone) could provide clear links between bone scans and fracture risk.

This PhD project will involve the development of computational tools and methods to extract enriched continuum models from healthy and metastatic bone scans, using finite element and geometric approaches. You will work with a supervisory team with expertise in enriched continuum models (Dr Duncan), as well as bone scanning and characterisation (Drs Ireland, Winwood, and Wadge).

External advice, collaboration, and travel opportunities will be available via. external project advisors (Dr Dias, University of Edinburgh, and Dr Budzik, Aarhus University, Denmark), who are both experts in crack propagation in cellular solids. You will also gain valuable experience and insights from our clinical partners in The Christie NHS Foundation and The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Project aims and objectives

• Aim: To develop and validate novel digital tools to extract micropolar constants from healthy and metastatic bone scanning data, to efficiently highlight failure risk and inform clinical practices. 
• Objective 1: Literature review of enriched continuum mechanics, focusing on methods to extract enriched continua from microstructural data, and effects of bone metastasis on microstructural and mechanical properties.
• Objective 2: Develop finite element approaches to extract micropolar parameters from trabecular bone scans.
• Objective 3: Develop the scanning process to efficiently collect new data using Manchester Met’s state-of-the-art HR-pQCT.
• Objective 4: Develop efficient tools to directly extract micropolar parameters from scanning data (using geometric analysis rather than finite element approaches).