Modeling blood flow

Hui Meng, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Dale Taulbee, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, make Isaac Asimov’s book Fantastic Voyage—the '60s Sci-Fi trip through the human body and brain—a reality as they advance research in hemodynamics and vascular biomechanics.

Their current focus is the treatment of stroke and cerebral aneurysms in collaboration with neurosurgeons and scientists at UB’s Toshiba Stroke Research Center (TSRC). State-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics and particle image velocimetry developed at their Laser Flow Diagnostics Lab, are linked to modern medical imaging modalities. Both in vitro and in vivo studies are conducted to understand how medical interventions affect blood flow patterns and subsequent biological responses.

Meng and Taulbee, working with a multidisciplinary TSRC team of physicians, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, bioengineers, and radiation physicists with diverse yet complementary expertise, are also developing anatomically realistic patient-specific models to help clinicians make scientifically sound decisions on diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases. Sponsors of the work include the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Whitaker Foundation, Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, John R. Oishei Foundation, WNY Foundation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Diasonics Corporation of America, Cummings Fund, and Toshiba America Medical Systems.