During breathing, the lungs undergo complicated deformations in order to expand and fill with air that are influenced by each individual's unique lung anatomy. This complexity and diversity makes understanding the impact of lung mechanics on our health difficult. In collaboration with the BioMOST lab, we develop computational biomechanics models of the lungs to better understand how different aspects of human anatomy, such as sliding of the lung lobes along the lobar fissures, affect the way we breath.

These high fidelity computational models make use of principles from mechanical engineering such as nonlinear elasticity and finite element analysis. In addition, the models make use of sophisticated medical image processing methods developed in our lab such as segmentation and image registration to personalize each model to individuals. We recently published an article in Applications in Engineering Science detailing the development of our computational modelling procedure for studying lobar sliding.

For more info contact:
Adam Galloy
adam-galloy@uiowa.edu