FRANCK VERNEREY

Our research focuses on understanding the mechanics of engineering and biological materials that are able to adapt and evolve their structure in response to external stimuli. This research ultimately finds application in the biomimetic design of smart materials, the engineering of artificial biological tissues and in fundamental advances in our understanding of biological cells and tissues (in both healthy and diseased states). Our approach relies on the development of multiscale, multiphysics models that can, though numerical methods, elucidate the interplay between mechanics, chemistry and transport phenomena at various fundamental length-scale of materials’ microstructures. Specific research focus is on:

1. 1.Multiphysics modeling of interactions of cells with their environment. Our objective is to better understand what molecular mechanisms are responsible for cell mediated tissue growth, the mechano-sensitive contraction and remodeling of cells and the intriguing behavior of their cortical membrane.
   

2. 2.Multiscale modeling of fracture in engineering and biological materials. We are interested in understanding the fundamental mechanisms (across different length-scales) governing the strength and toughness of microstructured materials and in particular fish-scale structures.
   

3. 3.Generally, we are also interested in the development of new multiscale mathematical and computational methods that bridge molecular and microscopic phenomena and the macroscopic behavior of materials.