Predictive Computational Modelling of Intramyocardial Biomaterial Therapies towards Personalised Care for Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction is one of the major causes of death globally. Cell and biomaterial injection therapy is a new and promising treatment for MI. Yet, it has not been fully optimised. Mechanical aspects of the treatment, especially the biomaterial injection, had attracted great interest in research community due to the alterations in cardiac mechanics induced by the biomaterial injection. Computational tools were found to be very useful in predicting the mechanical aspects of the treatment. The current research aims at utilizing micro-computed tomography image data of biomaterial-injected rat hearts to investigate the micromechanics of dispersed biomaterial injectates in infarcted hearts and using predictive computational models. This research is expected to provide important information on the microscopic dispersion of the biomaterial besides investigating the mechanical aspects of the novel treatment from microscopically. It is also expected to strengthen the research in biomechanics at advanced level at my home institute, to increase the awareness of the importance of biomechanics for the advancement of health care in Sudan, and to help establishing collaborations between researchers within Africa and internationally.