We've had an eventful and productive start to this project to create open-source models of the ankle. It became clear early on that there is a huge diversity of methods used to model the ankle, and this lack of consistency is a real challenge for us to find a model that will work for all these different applications. The whole purpose of this project is to bring some standardisation and uniformity to the modelling process, but that is no small task.
As a first step we did a thorough literature review, focusing on the natural ankle. This has now been completed, written up (excellent work Hattie!), and submitted to Clinical Biomechanics for publication. We are delighted to report that this has now been published, and you can read our findings here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2023.106006.
We developed a plan for the models based on the literature and we are making excellent progress with this. I will do a more detailed post later on about the model setup, but to briefly update you - we have completed the segmentation, the material mapping, boundary conditions, and are now verifying the model.
The big news in the project is that we have had a change around of staff. Harriet Talbot successfully passed her PhD viva, becoming Dr Talbot. Shortly following this, she was offered a lectureship position at the University of Hull - an offer too good to refuse! Hattie began her new position at Hull in the autumn of 2022 and is a great appointment. Hattie will continue to collaborate with us on the project.
The project then had a 3 month pause to accommodate the recruitment process, and we had some excellent applications. I'm delighted that we were able to recruit Dr Subrata Mondal, who has extensive experience of simulation of the ankle and biomechanics in general. You can find out more about Subrata on our university website (https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/subrata-mondal) and see his publications. Subrata has settled into life here at the University of Bath really well, is a perfect fit and a great asset to the team. Welcome Subrata!
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