Electro-chemo-mechanical numerical model for osteoblast interaction with a microstructured biomaterial surface.

The aim of this study is to obtain a numerical model for the influence of the electrical signals on the contractile response of bone cells when they are laid on substrates with different topographical and chemical characteristics. The idea of the research project is to incorporate electrical quantities such as electric field, electrical properties of biomaterials to the existing models which predict the mechanical interactions between cells and their underlying substrates.

1. Study of the existing models for contractile response of cells.
2. Investigation of the effect of electrical stimulation on bone cells.
3. Insertion of the electrical stimulation to an agreeable model.
4. Design and set-up of experiments in vitro and validation of the results.

An efficient implementation for simulations of cell contractility in 2D and 3D has been done. The idea of reducing the complexity of the models has also been implemented and an investigation has been made to estimate the improvement in performance. With the current implementation, applying the simulations for different structures or coupling with some other fields is expected to be simple.

Peer-reviewed Journal Papers: 

• BAHLS, C., TRUONG, D., and VAN RIENEN, U., 2018. Semi-analytical representation of the activation level in stress fibre directions as alternative to the angular representation in the bio-chemo-mechanical model for cell contractility. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 77, pp. 527-533. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2017.10.011. advance online publication.
• TRUONG, D., BAHLS, C. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2017. An efficient 2D implementation of a bio-chemo-mechanical model employing a quadratic representation to study cells on micro-post arrays. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design. Submitted.
• TRUONG, D., BAHLS, C., NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2017. Simulation of actin distribution of osteoblasts on titanium pillar arrays using a bio-chemo-mechanical model. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering. Submitted.
• TRUONG, D., BAHLS, C., NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2017. Modelling effects of DC electric field on contractility and cytoskeleton of fibroblasts and osteoblast-like cells using a bio-chemo-mechanical model. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering. Submitted.

Peer-reviewed Conference Papers:

• TRUONG, D., BAHLS, C., NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2016. An Implementation for the Simulation of Cells on Micro-Post Arrays. 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2016), Lake Buena Vista (Orlando), Florida, USA, Aug. 16-20, 2016. pp. 6138-6141.
• TRUONG, D., BAHLS, C., NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2016. The cell contractility model and the cell adhesion model: Reducing the complexity and preparing the coupling to electrical forces. 11th International Conference on Scientific Computing in Electrical Engineering, St. Wolfgang, Austria, October 3-7, 2016, pp. 103-104.
• TRUONG, D.T. and NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2015. An Implementation for the Bio-Chemo-Mechanical Model of Cell Contratility. 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Socie-ty, Milano, Italy. (1 page)
• TRUONG, D.T. and MÖRKE, C. and NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2015. Numerical study on actin filament patterns on various micro-structured pillar arrays. 5th International Symposium Interface Biology of Implants (IBI 2015), Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany. (1-page)
• TRUONG, D.T. and NEBE, B. and VAN RIENEN, U., 2015. Application of bio-chemo-mechanical mols on actin filament patterns of MG63 osteoblasts on micro-structured titanium arrays. Joint ISCA-Inspire workshop on Electrically Active Materials of Medical Devices (EAMMD), Limerick, Ireland. (1-page abstract)

• Prof. Dr. Ursula van Rienen
• Prof. Dr. Barbara Nebe
• Dr. Christian Bahls