Publication prize awarded to faculty team

The University of Stuttgart would like to congratulate the winners selected for the 2019 publication prizes! The prize includes Euro 2,500 prize money and is awarded annually for excellent publications from each of the faculties. „This prize honors publications that demonstrate outstanding research work at our university and that are known and recognized across disciplines.“, emphasized Prof. Jan Knippers, Vice Rector for Research.

The prize was awarded to a team of researchers from the Institute for Modelling and Simulation of Biomechanical Systems (IMSB) of the Faculty (Dipl.-Ing. Christian Bleiler; Prof. Oliver Röhrle, Ph. D.) and of the University of Pennsylvania, USA (Prof. Pedro Ponte Castañeda), for their article "A micro-structurally-based, multi-scale, continuum-mechanical model for the passive behaviour of skeletal muscle tissue". It was printed in the issue 97 of the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.

Short summary of the article: Skeletal muscles are an integral part of the musculoskeletal system. The modelling and computer-based simulation of movements of the musculoskeletal system thus requires an accurate description of the mechanical properties of muscles. Tissue alterations, for example as a result of disease, can strongly influence these properties, but usually show up on much smaller length scales, such as in the underlying protein structures in the micrometre range. The multiscale continuum-mechanical model for skeletal muscle tissue presented in the publication allows the direct use of microstructural data and thus represents an important paradigm shift in skeletal muscle modelling. Experimental results from histological examinations or image-based methods can thus be used directly as input parameters for simulations. The presented model is thus an important step on the way to envisioned clinical applications.

Dean Prof. Dr.-Ing. Garrecht explained the reasons for winning the award: ""The publication by Mr. Bleiler, an Early Career Researcher [LR1] at our faculty, presents not only a paradigm shift in the multi-scale modelling of muscle tissue, it is also a great example of how a winner of the Humboldt Research Award has used his stay at the University of Stuttgart as an opportunity to develop a new and productive international research collaboration."