projects

🌀Current project:

  • Disc4All Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions 2020-ITN-ETN GA:955735 Training network to advance integrated computational simulations in translational medicine, applied to intervertebral disc degeneration.

    • The Disc4All training network utilizes intervertebral disc degeneration (LDD) leading to low back pain (LBP) as a relevant application for integrating data and computational simulations in translational medicine to enable rational interpretations of the complexity of the interactions that eventually lead to symptoms. LBP is the most significant cause of morbidity worldwide, yet controversy remains about the specific cause leading to poor treatment options and prognosis. LDD accounts for 50% of LBP in young adults, but the interplay of factors from genetics, environmental, cellular responses, and social and psychological factors is poorly understood. Unfortunately, the integration of such data into a holistic and rational map of degenerative processes and risk factors has not been achieved, requiring the creation of professional cross competencies. Disc4All aims to tackle this issue through the collaborative expertise of clinicians; computational physicists and biologists; geneticists; computer scientists; cell and molecular biologists, microbiologists; bioinformaticians; and industrial partners. It provides interdisciplinary training in data curation and integration; experimental and theoretical/computational modeling; computer algorithm development; tool generation; and model and simulation platforms to transparently integrate primary data for enhanced clinical interpretations through models and simulations.

                   

European Commission WebPage Project WebPage University WebPage

🌀Projects in which I have participated:

  • CarboNatLab PIA-ANID ANILLO ACT 172037 Interacting structure and function of ecological, mechanical, and mineralogical properties of marine calcifiers: Shell carbonates as sources of bio-inspiration (Carbo-Nat-Lab).

    • Mollusk shells are a biomaterial composed of a mineral phase (95-99%), predominantly calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and an organic biopolymer matrix (1-5%). In this biomineralization process, mollusks use specialized biomolecules to precipitate aragonite or calcite and crystalline control growth. Biomechanical analysis of this biomaterial suggests that although carbonates are constrained by the same physical laws as their artificial counterparts, they exhibit radical differences in their material properties. Implying that evolutionary design and environmental pressures have shaped the form and structure that characterize their biological functions. As environmental factors such as seawater chemistry (e.g., acidification) and temperature can modify the mineralogical composition, in this project, we evaluate the natural variation in carbonate production along the Chilean coast to determine how molluscan shells' mechanical and structural properties sustain their biological functions in the context of climatic stressors. This study will provide a solid scientific basis to strengthen the sustainability of aquaculture in Chile.

                   

Government WebPage Project WebPage

  • Project FONDECYT 1170608f Biomechanical Behaviour of Arteries from Chronic Hypoxic Animals: Experiments, Modelling, Numerical Simulation, and Validation.

    • The general goal of this project is to determine the modeling, numerical simulation, and experimental validation of the biomechanical responses of arterial vessels in a recently established rat paradigm representative of living under hypoxia. These will be related to the structural characteristics of the vessels. Three different rat vessels will be analyzed: aorta, carotid, and femoral, at different ages (neonates, juveniles, and adults) and oxygenation conditions (healthy normoxic and impaired hypoxic)

Government WebPage Laboratory WebPage

conferences

🌎 international

  • VPHi Conference (VPHi 2024) | podium presentation | september 2024
    • University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany certificate
    🎤 Pixel2Mechanics: Automated biomechanical simulations of high-resolution intervertebral discs from anisotropic MRIs.

  • 50th International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine Annual Meeting (ISSLS 2024) | podium presentation | May 2024
    • Quark Hotel, Milano, Italy certificate
    🎤 Unveiling the interactions between ivd local morphologies and mechanical behavior through a novel morphing process: A step towards personalized medicine.

  • 31st Annual Meeting of the European Orthopaedic Research Society (EORS 2023) | podium & poster presentation | september 2023
    • University of Minho, Porto, Portugal certificate| poster
    🎤 🎴 Mining of biomechanical and geometry data of IVD FE simulations.

  • 28° Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB 2023) | podium presentation | july 2023
    • Maastricht Congress Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands certificate
    🎤 A cohort of patient-specific and virtual finite element models of intervertebral discs and model validation.

  • 18th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering (CMBBE 2023) | podium presentation | may 2023
    • Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology Institut de Biomécanique Humaine Georges Charpak, Paris, France certificate
    🎤 A cohort of patient-specific and virtual finite element models of intervertebral discs.

  • XI Reunión del Capítulo Español de la Sociedad Europea de Biomecánica (ESB-ESP 2022) | podium presentation | october 2022
    • Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain certificate
    🎤 Generación de una cohorte de modelos de elementos finitos de discos intervertebrales específico de pacientes, con extensión a cohorte virtual.

  • VPHi Conference (VPHi 2022) | poster presentation | september 2022
    • Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal certificate | poster
    🎴 Towards a repository of patient-specific intervertebral disc finite element models.

  • 27° Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB 2022) | podium presentation | june 2022
    • Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal certificate | podium certificate
    🎤 Towards a repository of patient-specific intervertebral disc finite element models

  • 1st Taulí Health symposium - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | spectator | june 2022
    • I3PT Instituto de Investigación e Innovación Parc Taulí (Fundació Parc Taulí), Catalunya, Spain certificate

  • IX International Conference on Computational Bioengineering (ICCB 2022) | podium presentation | april 2022
    • Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal certificate
    🎤 Towards a repository of patient-specific intervertebral disc finite element models.

  • X Reunión del Capítulo Español de la Sociedad Europea de Biomecánica (ESB-ESP 2021) | podium presentation | october 2021
    • Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain certificate
    🎤 Comportamiento biomecánico de las conchas de los mejillones: degradación durante la remodelación de las propiedades mecánicas y sistema de defensa.

  • 11° World Biomaterials Congress (WBC 2020) | poster presentation | december 2020
    • International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Virtual certificate | poster
    🎤 Mechanical behavior symmetry of mussel shells and numerical method for biomaterial orthotropy directions.

  • 19° Congreso Internacional de Metalurgia y Materiales (CONAMET-SAM 2019) | podium presentation | november 2020
    • Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile certificate
    🎤 Análisis de la respuesta biomecánica del Perumytilus purpuratus ante escenarios de cambio climático.

  • 25° Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB 2019) | 2 podium presentation | july 2019
    • TU Wien, Vienna, Austria certificate
    🎤 Biomechanical behaviour on shell characteristics (Perumytilus purpuratus) along the chilean coast.
    🎤 Numerical analysis of the biomechanical response of oyster shells subjected to climate change scenarios.

🇨🇱 chilean

  • XL Congreso de Ciencias del Mar | podium presentation | november 2020
    • La Sociedad Chilena de Ciencias del Mar (SCHCM), Virtual certificate
    🎤 Comportamiento mecánico simétrico de la resistencia de las conchas del mejillón Perumytilus purpuratus.

  • 2° Congreso de Estudiantes de Postgrado USACH (USACH 2020) | podium presentation | november 2020
    • Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Virtual certificate
    🎤 Perumytilus purpuratus: simetría de valvas y caracterización de dirección ortótropa.

  • Congreso Chileno de Biomecánica y Biomateriales (CBIO 2020) | podium presentation | october 2020
    • Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Virtual certificate
    🎤 Perumytilus purpuratus: simetría de valvas y caracterización de dirección ortótropa.

🎥 recording

  • 1° Congreso de Estudiantes de Postgrado USACH (USACH 2019) | podium presentation | august 2019
    • Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile certificate
    🎤 Modelos constitutivos de crecimiento aplicados a la concha del Perumytilus purpuratus.

science populatization

Science for children

videos made by me and Katherine Contreras

  • 🎞 density                                                              🎞 surface stress                                                   🎞 non-newtonian fluids

video on a blank page                                             video on a blank page                                             video on a blank page

    Science Festival | 10° Feria Científica USACH | october 2019
    Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile | spanish certificate
    biomechanics and biomaterials laboratory | news link 1 | news link 2

    Exhibition | Molluscas, espiral del cambio of the CarboNatLab project | CiiCC | october 2019
    Museo de Historia Natural de Valparaíso (MHNV), Valparíso, Chile | english certificate
    carbonatlab | news link 1 | news link 2

    Exhibition | XII Fiesta de la ciencia y la tecnología (PAR Explora Región Metropolitana Sur Oriente, ANID) | CiiCC | october 2018
    PARQUEMET, Santiago, Chile | english certificate
    carbonatlab | news link