Mathematical Modelling of Biological Soft Tissues by Dr Tom Shearer AMIMA (University of Manchester)
Abstract
Biological soft tissues, such as tendons and the skin, exhibit highly complex mechanical behaviour, and despite being made of the same fundamental materials, different soft tissues have radically different responses to applied loads. In this talk, I will explain how the mechanical properties of a soft tissue are directly linked to its micro-structure and how the geometrical arrangement of the collagen fibres that make up a tissue can give rise to surprising non-linear phenomena, even if the fibres themselves are assumed to behave linearly.
Finally, I will discuss how mathematical modelling could be used in the future to help design lab-grown soft tissues with specific mechanical properties that could be used to replace injured tissues in surgery.
About the Speaker: Tom Shearer, is a lecturer in Applied Mathematics and Materials Science at the University of Manchester. He completed his PhD thesis in 2012, on the effect of pre-stress on wave propagation in non-linear elastic materials, and since then he has worked on two EPSRC research fellowships, both in the area of mathematical modelling of ligaments and tendons.
He was jointly awarded the Catherine Richards Prize for the best article in Mathematics Today. The winning article, jointly authored by Dr Philip Pearce and Dr Tom Shearer, was Maths in Medicine: How to survive a Science Fair, and was published in June 2016.
No charge is made to attend meetings; non-IMA members are welcome.
