SPECIAL SESSION

Multiscale Biomechanics and Mechanobiology

Prof. Christian Hellmich
Vienna University of Technology, Austria
christian.hellmich@tuwien.ac.at

Abstract

In recent years, the continuously increasing capacity of computer simulations has enabled fairly efficient mathematical modelling of complex biological materials such as bone, cartilage, or wood, as emerging field in engineering science. Understanding and in further consequence predicting the behavior of such materials requires a distinctively multidisciplinary approach: E.g. bonefrom an engineering perspective, exhibits several remarkable features. On the one hand, it is characterized by a distinctive hierarchical organization according to which the elementary constituents of bone, namely collagen, hydroxyapatite, and water, build up the macroscopic material. On the other hand, bone is a living tissue, with a multitude of biochemical processes governing the quantities of the bone constituents on the different observation scales. Mastering the computational simulation of the exact structure and composition of bone over time, if subjected to varying mechanical and/or biochemical environments, is a challenging task. Owing to its potentially beneficial role for clinical applications (such as tissue engineering or drug treatment optimization), tackling this challenge has attracted the attention of experts from diverse disciplines. This special session aims at providing a forum for presentation and discussion of recent insights in the vibrant field between the poles of mechanics and biology.

Biography of the Organizer

Stefan Scheiner is postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria. He received both a diploma in civil engineering (MSc, 2004), and a doctorate in engineering sciences (PhD, 2009) from the Vienna University of Technology. From 2009-2011, he worked as postdoctoral research associate as a member of the Engineering Computational Biology-group at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, in the field of computational multiscale modeling.
Dr. Scheiner is the author of 10 publications in refereed journals, of 9 book chapters, and more than 20 contributions to the proceeding of international conferences. He has been reviewing for 3 scientific journals, and was, in 2009, awarded the Outstanding reviewer of the year, by the Journal of Engineering Mechanics (published by the American Society of Civil Engineers). His research activities revolve around the diverse field of multiscale modeling of engineering materials, with applications in both civil engineering (such as geotechnical engineering and tunneling) and biomedical engineering (such as computational modeling of bone or image analysis). Related scientific fields include micromechanics, transport in porous media, mechanobiology, and systems biology.

Christian Hellmich is Professor of Strength of Materials and Computational Mechanics at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Vienna, Austria. He received his MSc (1995) and PhD degrees (1999) from TU Wien, where he also obtained his habilitation degree for Mechanics of Materials and Biomechanics, in 2004. Since then, he served TU Wien as associate Professor, before having been appointed Full Professor in 2011, serving now as the Head of the Institute for Mechanics of Materials and Structures. From 2000 - 2002, he worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department for Civil and Environmental Engineering, supporting the establishment of the field of multiscale mechanics of bone.
Dr. Hellmich is the author of more than 80 publications in refereed journals (h-index=20), of 19 book chapters, and of more than 190 contributions to proceedings of international conferences.
He has been reviewing for 65 scientific journals and 10 Science Foundations, he is in the Editorial Board of 8 Scientific Journals, serving also as Associate Editor of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics (ASCE) and as Corresponding Editor of Computer Methods in Engineering and Sciences. His main research interests are centered around multiscale mechanics of materials and structures, with civil engineering and biomedical applications, which concern geomaterials and tunneling, wood, bone and the skeletal system, as well as tissue engineering strategies. Related scientific fields include micromechanics, poromechanics, mechanobiology, and systems biology.
His work was appraised by several internationally recognized prizes, including the 2008 Zienkiewicz Award for Young Scientists in Computational Engineering Sciences, of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS), an ERC Grant from the European Research Council, awarded in 2010; and the 2011 Walter L Huber Rsearch Prize awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Submissions

Please email all submissions to Prof. Hellmich by November 1, 2011. Authors MUST include their full contact information in the email.

Important Deadlines

Latest Submissions Due		November 1, 2011
Notification of Acceptance Starting		November 21, 2011
Final Manuscripts Due		December 5, 2011
Registration Deadline		December 8, 2011

Papers will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Authors who submit early will receive their feedback and notification early.