Dr Marlène Mengoni

Profile

After a PhD (2012, University of Liège, BE) dealing with computer modelling of orthodontic tooth movement, Dr Mengoni joined the institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2013 as a Research Fellow and applied her expertise in natural tissues modelling to the characterisation of the non-linear micromechanics of the intervertebral disc. Her work on the disc has been recognised internationally, being nominated as finalist of the Clinical Biomechanics award of the ESB in 2014. Marlène joined the academic staff of the School of Mechanical Engineering in 2015 as a School Research Fellow then as a Lecturer (2019) and Associate Professor (2022). She is a board member of the VPHi UK-chapter and on the Council of the European Society of Biomechanics.

In 2023, Dr Mengoni was awarded both a Royal Academy of Engineering Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (Comp-HA) and an EPSRC Open Fellowship (MSKDamage). In Janury 2025, she remains a double research fellow. 

press release

Responsibilities

• school REF lead

Research interests

Dr Marlène Mengoni is a member of the Insitute of Medical & Biological Engineering (to find out more about the insitute’ research, visit imbe.leeds.ac.uk).

Dr Mengoni is interested in musculoskeletal tissues biomechanics with a fundamental computational engineering approach to identify features of importance in biomechanics of tissues and their repairs.

Her focus is on understanding and modelling tissues behaviour, specifically to understand sources of variation and to predict the occurrence and propagation of damage due to clinical interventions in view of possible optimisation of these interventions. She currently works mainly on the spine (intervertebral disc and facet joint) but is collaborating on projects dealing with knees, wrist and previously ankles and hips.

An overview of spine biomechanics work across scales

Dr Mengoni has built collaborations in the UK with the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, in Europe with the University of Liège (BE), KULeuven (BE), ETH Zurich (CH), U. Zaragoza (SP), and with the University of Auckland (NZ).

Qualifications

• PhD Engineering (2012)
• MRes Biomedical Engineering (2005)
• BSc+MSc Engineering in Physics (2004)

Professional memberships

• HEA (Fellow)
• VPH insitiute (Member and UK-chapter board member)
• European Society of Biomechanics (Member and council member)

Student education

I led undergraduate project module and a postgraduate module on non-linear finite element analysis. I also supervise individual and team project students at UG and PGT levels.

Research groups and institutes

• Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering
• Centre for Computational Engineering

Current postgraduate researchers

• Andrew Dixon
• Oluwasegun Kayode
• Lekha Koria
• Harriet Talbott
• Sherif Zantiba
• Meg Alipat
• Lara Esquivel
• PVS Mahesh

Projects

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2147-enabling-stratification-of-early-stage-knee-interventions">Enabling stratification of early stage knee interventions</a></li>