Professor Pandy returned from the University of Texas at Austin to take up the role of Chair of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne. Professor Pandy was awarded a VESKI Fellowship of $400,000 over five years and took up his position in November 2004.
Professor Pandy was appointed Head of Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering on 1 January 2006.
Research Project Title: New Technologies for the Non-invasive Assessment of Musculoskeletal Health
Research Project Description: The goal of the project is to develop new methodologies for evaluating musculoskeletal health non-invasively in people.
Customised models of the lower-limb muscles, ligaments, bones, and joints built from computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging will be combined with in vivo measurements of skeletal motion obtained from dynamic imaging methods such as single-plane fluoroscopy. The patient-specific computer models of the body will be used to provide reliable estimates of muscle, ligament, and joint contact loading during dynamic activity. In vitro (cadaver) experiments will be performed to benchmark the accuracy of this modeling approach.
Leading-edge technologies in imaging and instrumentation will also be applied to quantitatively compare calculations of joint contact loading with telemetric measurements obtained in the same patient. The major outcome will be the creation of new intellectual property that combines computational modeling and in vivo experimentation for the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders resulting from stroke, cerebral palsy, and degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis).
“VESKI has introduced me to the industry contacts I need to further my research and provided support which has allowed me to advance my ideas.”
Professor Marcus Pandy
Project Update: Professor Pandy said that this year’s focus would be to demonstrate our model hierarchy by taking data from his new gait lab and using his team’s current rigid body models to solve the body forces as input to a recently completed knee joint model.
This model includes the ligaments patella and joint cartilage and will predict fine movements of the bone and joint stresses. He will also address the issues associated with setting up a mobile x-ray fluoroscopy unit in the gait lab. These included costing, ethical and training issues.
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To read the media release 'Joint Research Moves Along with $4million Boost' (April 2007) please click here.