Until recently, all of our work has been on ocular biomechanics but now includes applications in the musculoskeletal system, pancreas and skin. We will be happy to look into other areas depending on external interest and funding.
Academic staff
Ahmed Elsheikh - Group lead, Head of School of Engineering
Professor Elsheikh leads the Biomechanical Engineering Research Group with interest in ocular material characterisation and numerical simulation of ocular biomechanical performance. He has long practical experience as a structural engineer, and his recent work includes the development of medical devices to help improve the management of eye diseases.
Riaz Akhtar - Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering
Dr Akhtar's completed his PhD in 2007 at The University of Manchester in ‘The micromechanical behaviour of bone’. Following this, he undertook a post-doctoral position investigating the micromechanical properties of soft tissue. In 2008, he was awarded a British Heart Foundation Advanced Training fellowship. He joined the University of Liverpool in 2011.
Eithne Comerford - Head of Department in Musculoskeletal Biology
Graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UCD, Ireland in 1995. From 1995 to 2006, Eithne worked at the University of Bristol, being awarded her PhD on the pathogenesis of cranial cruciate ligament disease in 2003. Eithne has worked at the University of Liverpool since October 2006 and her main clinical interests include management of the trauma patient and cranial cruciate ligament disease (CCLD). As a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Veterinary Science Eithne undertakes a significant role in the management of both UG and PG students with regard to clinical, research and teaching duties.
Brendan Geraghty - Lecturer
Dr Geraghty completed an MSc in Structural Engineering in 2008, graduating with distinction. He then undertook an EPSRC funded PhD which investigated the mechanical response of ocular tissues, primarily human sclera, using uniaxial and inflation test methods. He joined the Biomechanical Engineering Group as a PDRA in 2012.
Ahmed Abass - Lecturer
Dr Abass joined the University of Liverpool as a Research Associate in the field of Biomedical Engineering in 2011. In 2017, he worked as a Research Associate in the Liverpool Centre for Mathematics in Healthcare (LCMH). Then he rejoined the School of Engineering at the University as a lecturer in Biomedical Engineering in 2018.
Postdoctoral Research Associates
Ya-Hua Chim
Dr Ya Hua Chim obtained her MEng degree in Biomedical Materials Science in 2010, before studying at the University of Glasgow, where she completed her MRes studies in Cells and Proteomic Technologies before obtaining PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Currently, she is working in research on aortic biomechanics at the University of Liverpool.
Ashkan Eliasy
Ashkan officially joined Biomechanical Engineering Group (BioEG) in June 2015 as a senior RA supporting one of the largest biomedical / biomedical engineering research groups at the University of Liverpool. He is also the laboratory manager and conducting state-of-the-art research in material characterisation and numerical simulations as well as the development of medical devices to enable better diagnosis, management and treatment of diseases
Bernardo Lopes
Bernardo is a medical doctor specialist in ophthalmology with fellowship training in anterior segment diseases (cornea and external diseases, cataract and refractive surgery). He obtained his PhD from Federal University of Sao Paulo and is currently a post-doc research associate at the biomechanical engineering group at University of Liverpool. His interests are numerical simulations and artificial intelligence applications to detect patients at risk of developing post-Lasik ectasia, corneal biomechanical applications of refractive surgery, keratoconus and other ectatic diseases.
Dong Zhou
Dong complete his PhD in March 2019 and studied inverse modelling and microstructure based numerical simulations at University of Liverpool. He is now a post-doc conducting research in the same field and researching in advancement of subroutine developments for FE models of ocular globes.
PhD Students
Ahmed Makarem
In July 2017, Ahmed was awarded his Master of Engineering (MEng) in Civil and Structural Engineering from the University of Liverpool. Merging his preceding experience within Civil and Structural engineering along with strong research skills gained from his undergraduate final year project, he commenced his PhD with the Biomechanical Engineering Group in December 2017. Ahmed is working on obtaining a numerical model of the extra-ocular muscles and the fatty tissue around the globe for a more accurate prediction of ocular behaviour and disease management.
Zhoula
Zhoula joined the group in 2014 to commence a PhD on “Multi-Scale Mechanical Property Mapping of the Sclera”. She also has three years of researching experience as a research assistant in College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics Engineering in Tianjin University.
Kaijung Chen
Kaijung joined the Biomechanical Engineering Group in 2015. His PhD work is on “Accurate Estimation of Intraocular Pressure and Corneal Material Behavior Using a Non-contact Method” and is supervised by Prof. Ahmed Elsheikh and Dr. Jones Stephen at University of Liverpool.
Osama Maklad
Osama joined the group in 2015. The contribution of his PhD will a numerical model of the fluid structure interaction for the eye, taking into consideration the change of external air puff pressure distribution and the intraocular pressure with the deformation in the cornea and sclera.
Shao-Hsuan Chang
In 2015 Shao joined the group to examine the biomechanical properties of ultraviolet-A cross-linked cornea, studying the underlying mechanisms of ultraviolet-A on keratoconic cornea by means of macro-scale measurement of organ stiffness and micro-scale observation of ultrastructure.
Ahmed Kazaili
Ahmed joined the group in 2015. His PhD focuses on using high-resolution optical techniques to determine microstructural changes in keratoconic corneas. During a previous project, he developed a noninvasive optical method for early detection of skin carcinomas with high accuracy rate.
Ali Aboulatta
Ali started his PhD with the Biomechanics group in 2016. Ali is working on Retinal Detachment to understand under which conditions it can progress. Also this will cover the treatment plans effectiveness in stopping progression while patients are waiting for surgery.
Phakakorn Panpho
Phakakorn commenced a PhD at the University of Liverpool in February 2017. She is currently investigating the nanomechanical heterogeneity in the aortic dissection flap under the supervision of Dr Riaz Akhtar, Dr Jiil Madine and Mr Mark Field.
Boxiong Zhao
Boxiong commenced his PhD and joined the group in 2017, working on transdermal drug delivery systems including microneedles and nanoparticles, etc., which is a joint project between University of Liverpool and Dalian University of Technology, China.
Collaborators
Ricardo Rodrigues Magalhaes - contact
Dr Magalhaes's current position is Professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of Lavras, Brazil. His project with the Biomechanical Engineering Group is focused on the regional variation of mechanical stiffness across the surface of the human eye.
Akram Joda - contact
Dr Joda's current position is Assistant Professor at King Faisal University and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. His projects with the Biomechanical Engineering Group include development of a contact device to measure corneal biomechanical properties in-vivo, development of an IOP correction equation of CorVis ST tonometry, measurement of corneal stiffness in-vivo using a non-contact device, and measurement of regional biomechanical properties of human eyes.
Fangjun Bao - contact
Dr Bao's current position is Research Group Head of the Ocular Biomechanics Group at Wenzhou Medical University. His projects with the Biomechanical Engineering Group include measurement of corneal mechanical stiffness in-vivo, patient-specific treatment of keratoconus patients based on collagen cross-linking, suitability of IOP correction equations for the Chinese population, development of planning tools for refractive surgeries, experimental assessment of the variations in scleral biomechanical properties associated with myopia, and improvements in inflation testing facilities.
Riccardo Vinciguerra - contact
Dr Vinciguerra's current position is Clinical Glaucoma fellow in St. Paul's Eye Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital. His projects with the Biomechanical Engineering Group include biomechanics of the cornea, and CorVis study.
Junjie Wang
Dr Wang joined the Biomechanical Engineering Group in 2011. He is now working on cornea modelling before and after the refractive surgery concerning uncertainty, aiming to progress the development of a predictive tool to assist the planning of refractive surgery procedures while taking full account of corneal biomechanical properties. his projects with the group include numerical simulations, software development, and refractive surgeries and implants.
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