This past summer, I was accepted to a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates at South Dakota State University. There, I worked with the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Biology Department on modeling electroosmotic flow through human tissue. This project is part of a larger effort to use electric stimulation therapy on degenerative conditions like Osteoarthritis, which is the leading cause of disability in America.
Using SimCenter’s StarCCM+ and SDSU’s High-Performance Computing lab, I simulated applying an electric potential to a small volume of human tissue, specifically articular cartilage. I worked to refine the model and eliminate inaccuracies that were present in earlier modeling attempts.
Over the course of my 10 weeks, I discovered that the software uses an inverse-square relationship to calculate electric field distribution, an equation where values get exponentially large as distance from the source approaches zero. This meant that the ‘hot spots’ that were inhibiting modeling attempts were not the result of poor design, but rather an inevitable result of immutable software characteristics.
Though my result was bad news for the research team, the process of finding the answer lead to numerous important discoveries about the software and will inform modeling attempts moving forward. I presented on my findings at South Dakota’s EPSCoR conference and then at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, where I took third prize in the poster competition. Currently, I am pending publication in Frontiers in Bioengineering as the larger project my research was part continues to advance towards completion.