Katharine’s overall goal is to develop improved mechanical circulatory support devices for patients with severe heart failure. To do this Katharine works in three main areas:

1. Design optimisation of ventricular assist devices (VADs) and other types of artificial heart. Katharine mainly uses CFD and numerical models of blood damage, but also works on validation, using optical methods, and improvement of CFD methods.
2. Investigation of the interaction between mechanical circulatory support and the native cardiovascular system. This involves studying the effects of altered blood flow on blood, for example the trauma induced on the blood cells and proteins, as well as on the blood vessels.
3. Development of new techniques for studying the above, for example Ultrasound Imaging Velocimetry, a novel method for using ultrasound to measure blood velocity.

Katharine is also interested in other biofluid mechanics, and related bioengineering, problems and has recently worked on mock artery flow rigs, altering the flow in vascular bioreactors and measuring flow changes after nephrectomy.

Katharine’s research has led to consultancy work for companies including Calon Cardio-Technology Ltd and CorWave SAS, and has been used by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Currently seeking applicants for a PhD project:

Multiscale analysis of the interactions between a novel Total Artificial Heart and the native Cardiovascular System

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/multiscale-analysis-of-the-interactions-between-a-novel-total-artificial-heart-and-the-native-cardiovascular-system/?p110261

All areas of blood flow, mechanical circulatory support, and cardiovascular biomechanics