Project details
The skin consists of sub-layers such as stratum corneum, epidermis with morphological parameters varying spatially. Being viscoelastic (similar to cheese), the skin is also subjected to high loading and environmental conditions every day resulting in skin damages. Healing from these skin damages is time-consuming and challenging as it is under the influence cyclic loading conditions generated due to bodily movements and posture. In treating these chronic skin problems, there has been an estimation of three million primary care hours and about £723m is spent by National Health Services, UK every year. Hence, it is important to understand the biomechanical behaviour of skin such as deformation and stress distribution.

The project aims to understand the link between tissue and cell level skin studies using a dynamic modelling platform. This is critical in understanding how the changes in cell level can influence the prevention and treatment of patients suffering from chronic skin ailments. The PhD student will design and develop this modelling platform to understand the mechanics of the skin on interaction with medical devices (such as prosthetic, dressing tapes/textiles). Further collaboration with the University of Sheffield is also in place to validate the model using in-vitro experimental results.