About our research group/lab
Our research
Background
Biomechanical forces play an essential role in the development of the cardiovascular system and of cardiovascular diseases. Biomechanical forces are involved in the pathophysiology of vascular as well as heart diseases. Knowledge on biomechanical stress in or at the arterial wall or in the heart muscle might help to improve selection, diagnosis and treatment of patients. Our studies focus on the influence of biomechanical stress in a) the generation, progression, destabilization and rupture of atherosclerotic plaques eventually leading to life threatening cardiovascular events b) in congenital heart disease c) the development of heart failure.
Overall aim
The aim of our research is to develop new methodologies to assess biomechanical forces in the cardiovascular system, to link them to the development of disease and to use them to predict cardiovascular events.
Research focus area
In the biomechanics laboratory different methodologies are developed and used to study the influence of biomechanical forces on the cardiovascular system. These technologies include imaged-based finite element modeling, tissue engineering, mechanical testing of cardiovascular tissues, nuclear imaging. Our studies range from bench to bedside and population studies to unravel the influence of biomechanics on pathophysiological mechanisms as well as to apply the developed methodologies in patients as a first step to clinical translation.
Our projects
Key Publications
- Hoogendoorn et al. Multidirectional wall shear stress promotes advanced coronary plaque development - comparing five shear stress metrics. Cardiovasc Res. 2019 Aug 22. pii: cvz212. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvz212.
- Gijsen et al . Expert recommendations on the assessment of wall shear stress in human coronary arteries: existing methodologies, technical considerations, and clinical applications. Eur Heart J. 2019 Nov 1;40(41):3421-3433. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz551
- Moerman et al. An MRI-based method to register patient-specific wall shear stress data to histology. PLoS One. 2019 Jun 6;14(6):e0217271. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217271
- Kok et al. The influence of multidirectional shear stress on plaque progression and composition changes in human coronary arteries. EuroIntervention. 2019 Oct 20;15(8):692-699.
- Barrett et al., Calcifications in atherosclerotic plaques and impact on plaque biomechanics. J Biomech. 2019 Apr 18;87:1-12,
- Meester et al., Imaging of atherosclerosis, targeting LFA-1 on inflammatory cells with 111In-DANBIRT. J Nucl Cardiol. 2019 Oct;26(5):1697-1704.
Collaborations
Collaborations within Erasmus MC
- Interventional Cardiology
- Radiology and Nuclear medicine
- Pediatrics cardiology
- Epidemiology
Collaborations outside Erasmus MC
- CardioVasular Biomechanics Lab (CVBL) in Delft is a joint research effort of the Biomechanical Engineering at the TU Delft and the Biomechanics Laboratory.
- Prof. Umberto Morbiducci, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
- Dr. A. Roest, LUMC, the Netherlands
- Prof Alfons Hoekstra, UVA, Amsterdam, NL
- Prof. C Bouten, Eindhoven University of Technology
