January 23
@
12:00 PM
–
1:00 PM
The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids, fluids, and dynamics). Professor Melissa Brindise is a professor at Penn State University.
Title: Uncovering mechanical drivers of cerebral aneurysm growth and rupture
Abstract: Clinical evaluation of cerebral aneurysms requires a difficult decision of whether to treat or monitor the aneurysm. While hemodynamics and other objective physics-based factors are known to influence an aneurysm’s risk of growth and rupture, no robust and mechanics-based method currently exists to accurately assess an aneurysm’s risk. As a result, aneurysm treatment decisions are most often made using subjective evaluations by physicians.
In this talk, I will discuss my lab’s work towards addressing this issue. Specifically, I will detail our multi-modality investigations which aim to uncover how physiological conditions, vascular morphology, and flow instabilities, including turbulent features, shape aneurysmal hemodynamics, impose mechanical consequences, and individually and collectively influence aneurysm growth and rupture.
Aneurysm rupture ultimately is the result of mechanical failure of the aneurysm tissue wall. However, direct, non-invasive assessment of aneurysm tissue strength remains beyond current clinical capabilities. I will therefore also discuss our ongoing work to develop clinical tools for inferring aneurysm wall properties from standard clinical imaging. In the long-term, such a tool represents a critical step towards objective-physics-based aneurysm risk assessments and treatment decisions
Bio: Dr. Melissa Brindise is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University. She received her B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering (2013) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2019) both from Purdue University. Prior to joining Penn State in 2021, she was a post-doctoral research associate at Purdue as part of the Eli Lilly-Purdue partnership. Her research combines experimental flow physics with image and signal processing to improve analysis methods and current clinical understanding of neuro- and cardiovascular disease, injury, function, and treatment. Broadly, her lab focuses on 1) advancing our understanding of the role of hemodynamics and vascular changes in the onset, progression, and efficacy of treatment of diseases and 2) developing objective, evidence-based methods to transform how we interpret patient data. Her current research interests include the application areas of cerebral aneurysms, Moyamoya disease, cognitive function, heart disease and arrhythmias, and transition to turbulence in unsteady flows.