Research areas and methodologies
The Theoretical and Computational Biomechanics Laboratory addresses research areas that cut across Mechanical, Biomedical, and Computer Engineering, with multiple interactions with Physics, Mathematics, Biology, and Medicine. Expertise in continuum mechanics, computational mechanics, and biomechanics is applied to both basic and translational research problems. In the first case, research activities focus on understanding the underlying mechanisms of fiber-reinforced hard and soft tissues with statistically distributed properties, which are addressed through advanced constitutive modeling based on thermodynamic energy approaches. Applications range from the study of the gastrointestinal tract for the calibration of novel stimulation and ablation devices, to the study of devices for the delivery of subcutaneous insulin, to the calibration of degradation times for magnesium-based bone fixation devices, and to the design and biomechanical optimization of innovative wearable sensors.
The Research Group has extensive experience in theoretical modeling and numerical simulation of active biological cells and tissues characterized by high contractility and motility, both in cardiac and smooth muscle. Group members organize and actively participate in national and international conferences, advanced doctoral schools, and international courses (CISM, KAVLI) with a view to the continuing and interdisciplinary education of the Laboratory's doctoral students.
The Laboratory actively collaborates with internal and external groups to UCBM and to the Departmental Faculty of Engineering, resulting in a rich scientific production for the scientific sector and consisting of dozens of publications in high-impact international journals.
The Research Group maintains institutional relationships with numerous industrial and clinical partners, offering broad training opportunities to undergraduates and PhD students.
Collaborations with other Research Centers
- University Hospital Foundation Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (IT)
- IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (IT)
- GSSI Gran Sasso Science Institute (IT)
- CNR-IFC Florence (IT)
- Polytechnic University of Milan (IT)
- University "G. D' Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara (IT)
- University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (IT)
- Hamburg University of Technology - Helmholtz Center (DE)
- University of the Bundeswehr Munich (DE)
- Johannes Kepler University - RICAM (AT)
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute (NZ)
- Emory University (USA)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (RHC)
- Monash University (AU)
Grant
- ERC Consolidator #101170592: Modeling InterScale Energetics in Gastrointestinal Electromechanics - "MiGEM" (2025-2030)
LABORATORIES
Theoretical and Computational Biomechanics
- Basics of Building Science
- Basics of Solid Mechanics
- Basics of Biomechanical Modeling
- Theoretical and Computational Continuum Mechanics
- EMF calculation
- Experimental analysis of soft tissues
Facilities:
- tools for high-performance numerical computing
- FEM, CAD software
