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Prof Neil W. Bressloff

Prof Neil W. Bressloff

  • Position: Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Design
  • Areas of expertise: Biomedical engineering; cardiovascular engineering; clinically relevant device design, particularly stents & valves; haemodynamics; computational engineering and design; design search and optimisation
  • Email: N.Bressloff@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: School of Mechanical Engineering Room 1.37

Responsibilities

  • Head of School

Research interests

With an early career background[i] in computational fluid dynamics, CFD, a parallel CFD code was written for algorithm development[ii] during the early days of the Computational Engineering and Design Research Group at the University of Southampton. As Deputy Director of the Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems University Technology Partnership for Design from 2002, focus shifted increasingly to aerodynamic design[iii],[iv]. However, simultaneously, a sequence of preliminary contacts and meetings with clinicians at University Hospital Southampton, led to the realisation that the systematic design methods being developed at Southampton in the aerospace sector, could be equally applied to (a) exploration of the effect of geometry/anatomy variation on haemodynamics in cardiovascular pathophysiology[v],[vi] and (b) biomedical implant design[vii]. In 2008, Arterius Ltd funded the development of a bioresorbable coronary scaffold for the treatment of coronary artery disease[viii]. Now, Arterius Ltd, based in Leeds, is the only UK based device company developing such a device, designed by NWB using methods originally developed in the aerospace sector[ix]. Patient recruitment is underway for the first in man clinical trial of the Arterius ArterioSorbTM coronary scaffold.  The same methods are also being applied to the design of novel replacement heart valves[x] using computational/digital design methods. Specifically, the novelty in design derives from combined demands to screen solutions to performance requirements – for example, in heart valve replacement – with the opportunities in designing for manufacture[xi] and in response to the changing cardiovascular landscape. Research funding has been won from both industry and UKRI totalling over £1.5m in the last five years. In the next five years, novel design solutions will be sought for the treatment of several cardiovascular diseases, working closely with industry and clinicians.

 

[i] Bressloff, N.W., 1996, CFD prediction of coupled soot formation and thermal radiation in turbulent combustion, PhD Thesis, University of Cranfield.

[ii] Bressloff, N.W., 2001, A parallel pressure implicit splitting of operators algorithm applied to flows at all speeds, Int J Num Meth Fl, 36: 497-518.

[iii] Forrester, A. I. J., Bressloff, N. W. and Keane, A. J., 2006, Optimisation using surrogate models and partially converged computational fluid dynamics simulations, R Soc Proc A 462: 2177-2204

[iv] Ursache, N. M., Bressloff, N. W. and Keane, A. J., 2011, Aircraft roll enhancement via multi-objective optimization using surrogate modelling, AIAA J, 49(7): 1525-1541.

[v] Bressloff, N. W., 2007, Parametric geometry exploration in the carotid artery bifurcation, J Biomech, 40: 2483-2491.

[vi] Steinman, D. A. et al, 2013, Variability of CFD solutions for pressure and flow in a giant aneurism, J Biomech Eng, 135(2): 021016.

[vii] Pant, S., Bressloff, N. W., Forrester, A. I. J. and Curzen, N., 2010, The influence of strut-connectors in stented vessels: A comparison of pulsatile flow through five different coronary stents, Annals Biomed Eng, 38(5): 1893-1907.

[viii] Bressloff, N.W., Pant, S. and Al-Lamee, K.G, 2012, A stent with alternating amplitudes, 9271852 Granted.

[ix] Pant, S., Limbert, G., Curzen, N. and Bressloff, N. W., 2011, Multi-objective design optimisation of coronary stents, Biomaterials, 32: 7755-7773. Leading Opinion Paper.

[x] Bailey, J., Curzen, N. and Bressloff, N. W., 2017. The impact of imperfect frame deployment and rotational orientation on stress within the prosthetic leaflets during transcatheter aortic valve implantation. J Biomech, 53: 22-28.

[xi] Bressloff, N. W. & Bailey, J., 2016, A frame for an implantable heart valve device and a method of manufacturing a frame for an implantable heart valve device, UK patent application 1616777.7.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD University of Cranfield, Mechanical Engineering
  • MSc Imperial College, Advanced Mechanical Engineering
  • PGCE University of Leeds, Mathematics and PE
  • BA Hons St. John’s College, University of Oxford, Engineering Sciences and Economics

Current postgraduate researchers

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>