BME Seminar Series: Dr. Philippe Sucosky, Wright State University

Dr. Philippe Sucosky, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University

All dates for this event occur in the past.

OSUCCC - James, room L045
OSUCCC - James, room L045
460 W. 10th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

"The Mechano-Etiology of Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease"

Abstract

The bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common congenital cardiac anomaly and is present in 1-2% of the general population. While the BAV anatomy may not intrinsically hamper valvular function, it is associated with a spectrum of secondary valvulopathy and aortopathy such as calcific aortic valve disease and aortic dilation. Although tremendous progress has been achieved in the design of valve prostheses and the execution of aortic reconstructions, those modalities still pose significant challenges related to surgical risks and implant durability. The design of effective clinical guidelines and surgical procedures requires the elucidation of the etiology of BAV complications, which remains controversial. While BAV disease has been linked to the same congenital defect as that responsible for the BAV morphogenesis, the abnormal BAV hemodynamics has emerged as a potential alternate or coincident etiology. Given the particular sensitivity of valvular and vascular tissues to their surrounding mechanical environments, BAV flow abnormalities may trigger pathological pathways that ultimately lead to leaflet calcification and aortic wall degeneration. The assessment of this hemodynamic theory requires demonstration of causality between the local hemodynamics of the valve leaflets and aortic wall and the local tissue biology, which has been lacking to date. This seminar describes an ex vivo approach combining state-of-the-art computational and experimental flow diagnostic techniques and innovative tissue culture strategies to assess the potential role of hemodynamics in BAV disease initiation and progression.

 

Professor Sucosky was born in Nice (France), in 1976. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Paris, France, in 1996, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) in 2000 and 2005, respectively.

From 2005 to 2008, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA). From 2008 to 2015, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN) and the Director of the Multi-Scale Cardiovascular Bioengineering Laboratory. Since 2015, he has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Wright State University (Dayton, OH). His research interests are in biofluid mechanics, hemodynamics, cardiovascular mechanobiology, heart valve disease and medical devices.

Dr. Sucosky was a recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association in 2006, a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology in 2008, and a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation in 2011. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health through the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. He is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Heart Valve Society. He is also serving as an associate editor in Frontiers in Physics (Biophysics section).