BIOMECHANICS OF FEMALE PELVIC ORGAN PROLAPSE (POP) TREATMENT

PhD POSITION OFFER – 36 MONTHS (Q4 2025 – Q3 2028)

Concept Development and Validation of A Partially Bioresorbable Textile-Based Implant for Female Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Treatment: An Innovative Approach Combining Advanced Numerical Modelling and Controlled Preclinical Trials

Objective

The PhD objective is to establish the proof of concept of partially bioresorbable textile based implants compatible with the mechano-biology of pelvic organ tissues in the context of female POP treatment. Special attention will be paid on understanding, characterizing and modelling the biomechanics of human repaired pelvic soft tissues after POP and those of an animal model to be tuned and optimized before any use.

Collaborations

This PhD thesis is a multi-disciplinary research project. Clinical guidance and support will be provided by the Marseille University Hospitals (APHM) and Charles University Hospitals (Czech Republic).  Pre-clinical trials will be designed and run in partnership with some veterinary organisations. Close collaborations are planned with the New Technologies Research Center (NTC), University of West Bohemia BWU (Czech Republic) for the development of the digital models. NTC will potentially host the doctoral student for a period of several months up to a year. In addition, partnerships are considered with LabTau (INSERM U1032, Lyon) for its expertise in passive elastography and the company FEG Textiltechnik mbH (Germany) for its technical support and the supply of visible textile implants.

Scientific challenges and innovative methods

• The complex shape of pelvic organs and their inter-connections make their MRI image segmentation and their geometrical modelling particularly challenging. Furthermore, the numerous contacts they have with each other result in high computational times to run simulations. To overcome these challenges, the doctoral project will use AI to generate accurate geometries adapted to regular meshes and to lead the way to model reductions. AI methods are currently being developed and implemented within the LBA by expert AI researchers who recently joined the laboratory. They will assist the PhD student in this task..


• Pelvic organ tissues have been extensively characterized but data were mostly collected from post-mortem subjects. To access, over time, to the in vivo in situ properties of pelvic tissues and textiles implanted, passive elastography will be used in collaboration with LabTau/INSERM.


• The pelvic floor muscles and the ligaments of the pelvic organs play a critical role for both the statics and dynamics of the pelvic organs. However, the state of muscular contraction, precise locations of the insertions of these ligaments is difficult to assess with MRI. A reverse method approach is required. To limit the number of unknowns, non-invasive pressure measurement within the pelvic sphere and the use of MRI visible Dynamesh implant (FEG TextilTechnik) will be considered.


• Finally, this doctoral project calls for numerous modelling hypotheses that need to be clearly formulated and their impact on the results of interest must be quantified. In order to ensure the reliability and robustness of the simulations, VV40 standard (ASME, 2018) will be implemented. This standard provides a framework and a rigorous approach for model verification and validation. Its implementation is now required by the FDA for any numerical simulation results as part of a Medical Device submission dossier.

How to apply

Frédéric Turquier (Full Professor, Aix-Marseille University) E-mail: frederic.turquier@univ-amu.fr, Website: https://lba.univ-gustave-eiffel.fr/

Vít Nováček (Senior Researcher, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen) E-mail: vnovacek@ntc.zcu.cz, Website : https://www.ntc.zcu.cz/en/Research/Research_topics/Human_Body_Models.html