Postdoctoral researcher position available at University of Amsterdam

The Informatics Institute of the Faculty of Science is one of the large research institutes in the faculty, with a focus on complex information systems divided in two broad themes: 'Computational Systems' and 'Intelligent Systems'. The institute has a prominent international standing and is active in a dynamic scientific area, with a strong innovative character and an extensive portfolio of externally funded projects.

Project description

Background cell based blood flow modelling and simulation

Blood is a dense suspension of red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells, with many intriguing properties that are far from understood. We have developed a cell based blood flow model, relying on a combination of a Lattice Boltzmann Model for the suspending fluid, an Immersed Boundary Method for the fluid structure interaction, and a boundary element method for the mechanical properties of the individual cells. This model was used to probe deeper into the rheological properties of blood (shear thinning at high densities), as well as details of transport of platelets in non-trivial geometries (such as intracranial aneurisms). Moreover, biological models to account for adhesions and aggre- gation of platelets were added and used to study the initial processes involved in thrombosis in the context of high shear gradients.

You will:

• couple suspension simulations to continuous flow simulations, thus creating several versions of multiscale models for blood flow;
• improve our cell based blood flow model with more advanced modeling of hydrodynamic interactions between LBM-IBM cell membranes

and then apply this to study:

• basic transport properties of RBCs and platelets (shear induced diffusion, margination of platelets and white blood cells);
• transport of platelets and clotting in realistic 3D geometries.

The research requires use of massively parallel computing sys- tems, and part of the research will also be on how to map the models to high-end (Tier0) parallel computers.

You will work in a team consisting of one other Postdoctoral researcher and three PhD candidates, all working on different aspects of cell based blood flow. Moreover, your position is embedded in a larger European project (ComPat), and you are expected to play a key role in this collaboration.

Requirements

The Postdoctoral researcher should have a PhD degree in either Computational Physics, Computational Science, or related disciplines. The applicant should have relevant experience in modelling and simulation (blood cell) suspensions, and preferably have relevant experience with using Lattice Boltzmann models and with High Performance Computing.

We seek a researcher being able to collaborate with researchers working on other topics, thus forming a bridge between their own domain and collaborators with the larger European project. Candidates should be able to work in an international multi-disciplinary team.

Contacts

• Prof. Alfons G. Hoekstra
  +31(0)20 525 7543
• Computational Science Lab, Faculty of Science

Further information can be found here