Reader and Deputy Director of Research
Email:
Telephone:
+44(0)131 6505679
Location:
2.2016 James Clerk Maxwell Building
Engineering Discipline:
- Chemical Engineering
Biography:
My research involves the modelling and simulation of complex fluids, for example emulsions, suspensions of deformable particles or red blood cells in microfluidic devices. I am teaching in the first and second years Chemical Engineering and am working on enhancing the "soft skills" development of our students. I am also the "Engineering Postdoc Champion", promoting the career development of our postdocs.
Academic Qualifications:
- PhD in Physics, Bochum University, Germany, 2011
- Diploma in Physics, Heidelberg University, Germany, 2007
Professional Qualifications and Memberships:
- Institute of Physics
- Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
- German Physical Society
Teaching:
- Chemical Engineering 1
- Process Calculations 2
- Chemistry and Processes 2 - Works visits
- Soft skills workshops
Research Interests:
Personal website with detailed research overview
Particle sorting and separation
- Sorting and separating particles based on their intrinsic properties (e.g. size or deformability) is important for the diagnosis of diseases. My PhD students and I use computer simulations to better understand those separation mechanisms.
- Recent publication: Anisotropic Permeability in Deterministic Lateral Displacement Arrays
Blood flow and blood cell dynamics
- Blood is clearly one of the most important fluids in the human body. It transports oxygen and nutrients to all cells in the body. It is also related to a number of diseases, such as malaria or blood clotting disorders. Understanding how red blood cells deform and how platelets initiate the clotting process is key to the development of novel disease diagnostics and treatments.
- Recent publication: Effect of tube diameter and capillary number on platelet margination and near-wall dynamics
Suspension rheology
- The rheology of dense suspensions strongly depends on the particle properties, volume fraction and confinement. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms affecting the viscosity of dense suspensions.
- Recent publication: Fluctuations and diffusion in athermal suspensions of deformable particles
Lattice-Boltzmann method
- The lattice-Boltzmann method is a relatively new approach to solve the Navier-Stokes equation; but it can do much more than that. There is still an active research interest and method development, and the number of applications where the lattice-Boltzmann method plays a role is constantly increasing.
- Recent publication: A Ternary Free Energy Lattice Boltzmann Model with Tunable Surface Tensions and Contact Angles
Specialities:
- Modelling and simulation of complex fluids
- Microfluidics, suspensions and emulsions
- Blood flow in complex geometries and blood cell separation
- Lattice-Boltzmann method
- Immersed-boundary method
Further Information:
Engineering Postdoc Champion (since 2016)