Over the past decade, we have seen an emergence of the use of personalized blood flow simulations in medical practice and biomedical research. These models are used to help design new drugs, devices, and treatments for a wide range of diseases. Large-scale simulations capture both the fluid movement and the interaction of included particles and cells. This interdisciplinary research will create a tool for researchers to interactively modify the geometry of the device or vessels or properties describing the cells to study how changes influence metrics that can improve treatment design. This project will also provide a framework to facilitate new educational programs at the intersection of computing and biomedical engineering with the goal to promote wider interest in STEM degrees and careers. To engage next generation scientists with computational modeling, the project aims to (i) develop virtual reality-based interactive modules for K-12 students, (ii) develop standards-aligned primary and secondary school classroom curriculum add-ons, and (iii) host implementation workshops to broadly disseminate the material and findings.
The proposed research program will develop and establish new multiscale, multiphysics modeling techniques that enable users to use parallel fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) models to design new therapeutics in an intuitive and interactive manner. The program couples complementary resources including virtual reality and augmented reality interfaces, massively parallel fluid simulation, and high-fidelity cellular adhesion models. The following key components will be combined: (i) the development of a robust, efficient capability to capture a range of cell types, (ii) a parallel method to initialize high cell densities in complex geometries, and (iii) interactive techniques for design feedback and modification. The resulting cyberinfrastructure represents a new and potentially transformative FSI engineering paradigm that will lead to advances in fundamental knowledge, more effective research techniques, enhanced clinical capabilities, and cross-cutting impacts that transcend the bioengineering and biomedical fields. The knowledge gained by development of a state-of-the-art, simulation-driven, geometry-interaction methodology will have wide impacts beyond the use cases investigated in the project.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
