Cardiovascular Biomechanics and Ultrasound Laboratory
Imperial College London, Department of bioengineering

Research Focus

The Cardiovascular Biomechanics and Ultrasound Laboratory (PI: Choon Hwai Yap) focuses on investigations of cardiac biomechanics. Our investigation covers a range of hearts, including embryonic, fetal, and adult heats, using clinical images, and small and large animal models.

We approaches are mostly image-based computational simulations, including both blood fluid dynamics simulations and myocardial finite element simulations. We developed a range of tools including image registration and motion tracking, image compounding to improve quality, to support these image-based simulations. In our latest efforts, we attempt to incorporate physics informed deep learning networks to predict biomechanics details, in an attempt to render such simulations real time and suitable for clinical adoption.

Through our work, we have discovered important physiological details of the healthy and diseased hearts, and identified imaging and useful biomechanics markers for disease detection, evaluation of cardiac health and prognosis. We investigated various diseases including congenital heart diseases, heart failure, and infarction. In embryonic hearts, we characterized its biomechanical function of the embryonic heart structures, and discovered biomechanical stimuli that are important to embryonic heat formations.

Our second interest is to develop novel materials and devices to modulate thrombosis in medical devices. For example, we investigate biocompatible slip-flow materials to reduce blood stresses and blood damage in blood pumps, and we adapted a nano-fibrous material for an advanced hemostatic device.

Details on Research Project here.

News and Events

* congratulations to Laura Green for winning the best poster award at the ESBiomech2023 conference..! https://twitter.com/ESBiomech/status/1679164699701657602

* The Cardiovascular Biomechanics and Ultrasound Laboratory is moving to Imperial College London in July 2020. We look forward to continued opportunities to contribute scientifically from London. Multiple PhD Scholarships at Imperial College are currently available, for details, please see here.

* Yap Lab and Poulikakos Lab jointly develop an advanced nano-tech enabled hemostatic patch that minimizes blood loss by repelling blood, enables fast clotting, and easy detachment after clotting. Check it out here.