Dr Lee Etchels

Profile

Before starting my current research position I obtained an MEng (Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering) and PhD (Biomedical Engineering), both from the University of Leeds. In both cases my research topics were focused towards structural modelling and optimisation. My PhD was funded by the Latta Fellowship, through the British Orthopaedic Ashociation, and computationally investigated approaches for treating fractures of the thigh bone around an existing hip replacement using a longer replacement stem.

My previous postdoctoral research was on the Health Impact Partnership grant funded by the EPSRC (grant EP/N02480X/1). This focused on developing and integrating academic computational tools into industrial use to support the development of future hip replacement devices. Specifically, we simulated the behaviour of, and damage to, components when undergoing edge loading testing under ISO 14242:4, which is an extension of the previous preclinical wear testing requirements to account for the potentially damaging conditions created by post-operative joint instability.

Research interests

My current research work is part of a Centre to Centre grant partnering Leeds with the University of Denver and Depuy Synthes (EP/W003139/1). Within this project we are continuing the previous Health Impact Partnership work to investigate the drivers of hip instability, and the linked effects of how people move, vary, and change, and identify any scenarios or conditions that should be added to the existing pre-clinical trial regulatory testing of hip replacements. We are doing this by using predictive computational models to evaluate the potential importance of different instability mechanisms, while feeding these findings through to experimental simulator design and methodology.

To find out more about the Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering's research visit imbe.leeds.ac.uk

Qualifications

• MEng
• PhD

Research groups and institutes

• Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering