Scientific area
2.3 Mechanical engineering
Discipline(s)
Applied mechanics
Project title
NEMESIS - Nonlinear Mixed Effects (NLME) Models applied to the Mechanical Testing of Biomaterials
Scientific Coordinator's name:
Pedro Martins
Scientific Coordinator's e-mail:
palsm@fe.up.pt
Principal R&D Unit:
Design and Experimental Validation Unit
Other R&D Units involved in the project:
Other R&D units involved in the project
Project keyword(s)
Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models; Biomechanics;Biomaterials
Short abstract and comments
Collaborative project: Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica (IDMEC-IST). Mixed effects models (MEM) have become popular to analyze longitudinal or repeated measurement data when the focus is to infer individual-specific characteristics from the population mean values (Davidian and Giltinan, 1998). They have been an important tool in the Bioinformatics field applied to problems such as pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. This project aims to extend the application of Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models (NLME) to experimental data on biomaterials and biological soft tissues. The data pool to consider includes force-displacement results from Uniaxial and biaxial mechanical tests of pelvic tissues (Martins et al., 2013), and relevant data to understand the etiology of pelvic floor dysfunctions such as urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). The objective is to understand the influences of specific individual characteristics such as age, weight (BMI) or parity on the mechanical behavior of the soft tissues responsible for the urinary continence mechanisms. NLME model analysis allows the understanding of random-effects (RE) associated to an individual and fixed-effects associated (FE) which are population-based. The pipeline developed can be directly applied to the study of biomaterials such as breast implants.
Potential uses/indications
A methodology to apply NLME models to mechanical data on biological soft tissues; The influence of population etiology on the mechanical properties of patients with POP; An application of NLME models to mechanical data on biomaterials.
Status
Ongoing
Partner Status: Seeking Partners?
No
Grant number (QREN, FP7, Eureka, etc)
LAETA1517_NEMESIS
Last edited on
2016-05-03 12:19:32