Cardiac Mechanics

A postdoctoral position is available immediately at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University for work on a project simulating cardiac mechanics in normal and failing hearts. A PhD in Mechanical or Biomedical Engineering or related field is required. The candidate is required to have strong expertise in modeling soft tissue mechanics. The  successful candidate is expected to be able to develop code to simulate the contraction of the heart as well as to conduct simulation research on abnormalities in cardiac contraction. Send inquiries to Dr. N.

Myocardial fiber orientation is a topic that has recently received much attention in connection with cardiac pumping function. The twisting motion of the cardiac base to apex can be a direct result of this geometric orientation of these fibers. One important question that has not been addressed yet is whether there is any relationship between the contractile energy expenditure and the geometric orientation of myocardial fibers. In the present work, we study the effect of contractile fiber orientation on pumping function.

Our current ability to accurately measure ventricular global contractile behavior remains unsatisfactory due to the lack of quantitative diagnostic indexes that can assess the mechanical properties of myocardial tissue.