(3d) Image-Based Fluid Dynamics Modeling for Biomedicine and Beyond

Research Interests:
Image-Based Modeling is an emerging multi-disciplinary field that finds numerous applications in many diverse industries ranging from Biomedicine to Enhanced Oil Recovery.  By using state-of-the-art imaging techniques in conjunction with high performance fluid dynamics computer modeling the image-based approach enables researchers to gain insights into systems that otherwise would have been inaccessible.  For example, using imaging techniques, such as 3D Computed Tomography or Confocal Microscopy, allows one to obtain exact geometries of complex structures of interest, such as that of living porous media in-vivo or that of inorganic porous media (such as rock formation).  Perhaps the main advantage of this modeling approach is that the implementation of the obtained structures in simple robust computer simulations gives practical results that are based on actual experimental data and do not suffer from mathematical complexity or from over-simplifications that are often necessary in other modeling techniques.

Future Direction:
As faculty I would like to continue applying Image-Based Modeling in different areas of Biomedicine, as well as in other industries.  In particular I would like to unite the knowledge that I obtained from the two topics that I worked on during my Ph.D. and during my postdoctoral appointment: Bone Tissue Engineering and Blood Thrombosis, respectively.  I believe that the two are closely related, because Bone Tissue Engineering grafts must interact with the patients' blood post-implantation. Proper blood flow through the artificial tissue must be ensured in order to eliminate waste products from the construct, to mechanically stimulate the bone cells, and to deliver oxygen and nutrients to them.  Image-Based Modeling presents itself as the perfect tool for exploring this system, because a) growth of the of the bone tissue can be captured by imaging it at different time points and b) effects of the dynamically changing porous structure on the hemo-chemical and mechanical processes within the construct can be readily calculated via high performance computing.

Besides Biomedicine my interests include flows through inorganic porous media (in particular multi-phase flow through porous rock as it is related to enhanced oil recovery), drug delivery in the brain, modeling industrial chemical processes, financial optimization and entrepreneurship.  My overall philosophy is to use simple and well-developed simulation methods in order to get practical and realistic results based on actual physical data.  Therefore, in the future, I foresee myself collaborating closely with experimentalists and/or having an experimental component in my own laboratory.

Successful Proposals:  NIH F32, American Heart Association Postdoctoral Training Grant, Teragrid Supercomputing Resources.

Post-doctoral Advisors: Scott L. Diamond & Skipp Brass, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering/School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Ph.D. Co-Advisors:  Dimitrios V. Papavassiliou & Vassilios I. Sikavitsas, Chemical, Biological and Material Engineering, University of Oklahoma

Research Experience:
My academic career path has been a blend of many fields of science and engineering.  My formal training was in simulation, which I have learned on many different physical scales:  Density Functional Theory (femto), Molecular Dynamics (nano), and Lattice Boltzmann Fluid Dynamics (meso).  Yet, projects that I worked on were always close collaborations with experimentalists:   Friction Reducing Surfaces for the NAVY, Bone Tissue Engineering, Enhanced Oil Recovery and Blood Coagulation/Thrombosis.  As a result of these collaborations I have acquired invaluable and versatile experience in many research areas:  material science, biology, medicine, biochemistry, biomedical imaging, and engineering design, just to name some.  Moreover, as a result of intensive training at various supercomputing centers (OU Supercomputing Center for Education & Research - OSCER, Texas Advanced Computing Center - TACC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – LBNL), I became proficient in high performance computer modeling.  

Teaching Experience:
Aside from my research career, I also have extensive teaching experience.  I spent a semester teaching basic science to highschool students as a part of a NSF fellowship; I TAed and guest-lectured undergraduate lecture and laboratory courses in Chemical Engineering both at the University of Oklahoma and at the University of Texas (for which I won a Campus Wide Best TA Award); I was repeatedly chosen by my department to be the “Pro/II Expert” (duties included lecturing undergrads, holding office hours and developing course materials); and, lastly, I mentored graduate students in my group.

Postdoctoral Project:  “Intra-Thrombus Chemo-Transport and Local Stress Mechanics Under Flow.”

PhD Dissertation:  “Fluid Shear Stress and Nutrient Transport Effects Via Lattice Boltzmann and Lagrangian Scalar Tracking Simulations of Cell Culture Media Perfusion through Artificial Bone Tissue Engineering Constructs Imaged With MicroCT.”

Selected Publications:

R. S. Voronov, S. VanGordon, V.I. Sikavitsas and D.V. Papavassiliou, 2010. “Computational Modeling of Flow Induced Shear Stresses Within 3D Salt-Leached Porous Scaffolds Imaged via Micro-CT”. J. of  Biomechanics, 43 (7), 1279-1286.

R. S. Voronov, S. VanGordon, V.I. Sikavitsas and D.V. Papavassiliou, 2010. “Efficient Lagrangian Scalar Tracking Method for Reactive Local Mass Transport Simulation through Porous Media”. Int. J. for Numerical Methods in Fluids. doi: 10.1002/fld.2369

R. S. Voronov, S. VanGordon, V.I. Sikavitsas and D.V. Papavassiliou, 2010.  “Distribution of Flow-Induced Stresses in Highly Porous Media” Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 024101.

R.S. Voronov, D. Papavassiliou and L. Lee, 2006: "Boundary Slip and Wetting Properties of Interfaces: Correlation of the Contact Angle with the Slip Length." Journal of Chemical Physics, 124, 204701.

Reviews:
R.S. Voronov, D.V. Papavassiliou and L.L. Lee, 2008: "Review of Fluid Slip over Superhydrophobic Surfaces and Its Dependence on the Contact Angle."  Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 47 (8), 2455-2477. doi: 10.1021/ie0712941