Biography

Research Interests

Transport processes in physiological systems; computational fluid dynamics; finite element modelling for biomechanical analyses; cardiovascular devices and prosthetics. 

Project Title

"Development of computational methods for personalised assessment of the biomechanical functions of the Marfan aorta"

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder of connective tissue which is associated with progressive aortic root dilatation and increased aortic wall stiffness. If left untreated it could lead to aortic dissection – the leading cause of death in Marfan patients. One of the methods developed to prevent progressive dilatation is the insertion of a personalised external aortic root support (PEARS).

The aim of this research is to evaluate the biomechanical implications of the PEARS. This will be done using combined medical image processing (MRI and PC-MRI) and computational fluid and structural mechanics. Models will be developed and analysed using various in-house programs and commercial software including Mimics, Matlab, ANSYS and Ensight.  

Supervisor(s)

Professor Xiao Yun Xu

Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK

Publications & Conference Papers

T. Golesworthy, P. Vergbrugghe, C. Izgi, S. Singh & T. Treasure, 2016. An integrative approach to the Marfan aortic root between the patient, the physician and basic scientists: A case study in personalised external aortic root support (PEARS), Journal of Integrative Cardiology, 2(3):295-302.
S. D. Singh, X. Y. Xu, J. R. Pepper, C. Izgi, T. Treasure & R. H. Mohiaddin, 2016. Effects of aortic root motion on wall stress in the Marfan aorta before and after personalised external aortic root support (PEARS) surgery, Journal of Biomechanics, 49(10):2076-2084.
S. D. Singh, X. Y. Xu, N. B. Wood, J. R. Pepper, C. Izgi, T. Treasure & R. H. Mohiaddin, 2016. Aortic flow patterns before and after personalised external aortic root support implantation in Marfan patients, Journal of Biomechanics, 49(1):100-111.
S. D. Singh, X. Y. Xu, J. R. Pepper, T. Treasure & R. H. Mohiaddin, 2015. Biomechanical properties of the Marfan’s aortic root and ascending aorta before and after personalised external aortic root support surgery, Medical Engineering and Physics, 37:759-766.
S. D. Singh, T. K. Dobroserdova, X. Y. Xu & V. Vassilevski, 2015. Multiscale modelling of blood flow in a patient-specific aorta under physiologically realistic boundary conditions, in P. Nithiarasu and E. Budyn (eds), CMBE15: 4th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Paris, France, pp 44-7.

Conferences

4^th International Conference on Computational & Mathematical Biomedical Engineering (CMBE 2015), ENS Cachan, France, 29 June - 1 July 2015. Podium Presentation: Mutliscale Modelling of Blood Flow in a Patient-Specific Aorta under Physiologically Realistic Boundary Conditions.
7^th World Congress of Biomechanics (WCB 2014), John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 6-11 July 2014. Poster presentation: Assessment of the Biomechanical Environment in the Ascending Aorta of Marfan Patients after Implantation of a Personalised External Aortic Root Support.
19^th Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB 2013), University of Patras, Patras, Greece, 25-28 Aug 2013. Podium presentation: Analysis of Stress Patterns in the Aorta of a Marfan Patient with and without External Aortic Root Support.
IMA Conference on Mathematics of Medical Devices and Surgical Procedures, University College London, UK, 17-19 Sept 2012. Podium presentation: Analysis of the Biomechanical Behaviour of the Aorta in Marfan Patients.
Summerschool on Modelling and Simulation in Soft Tissue Biomechanics: From Structure to Macroscopic Response, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria. 3-7 Sept, 2012.
Glasgow Workshop on Soft Tissue Modelling, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. 14-16 March 2012.Poster presentation: Biomechanical Analysis of the Aortic Root – Initial Experience with Single- and Multi-Layered Models. 

Awards and Funding

2014: Scholarship awarded by MIPT for the MIPT Summer Internship 2014 in Moscow

2012 - 2016: Fully funded PhD Scholarship awarded by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago (for nationals with First Class Honours in Undergraduate Studies)

2010 - 2011: Fully funded MSc Scholarship awarded by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago (for nationals with First Class Honours in Undergraduate Studies) 

2009: PETROTRIN prize for 1^st place in the BSc Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of the West Indies