Summary
Katharine Fraser obtained an undergraduate degree in physics (MPhys) from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD was an investigation into haemodynamics and tissue stresses in abdominal aortic aneurysms and involved using MRI and CT scans combined with Doppler ultrasound data as the input to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA) and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) calculations. Other aspects were a study of the ultrasonic properties of ex vivo arteries, with a view to making more realistic phantoms for in vitro validation studies, and an analysis of the lumped parameter models for the FSI boundary conditions.
In 2008 Katharine started a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Her work there used CFD to analyse the haemodynamics in cardiovascular devices such as ventricular assist devices (VADs), artificial lungs and cannulae. The main project combined CFD with empirical models for mechanical blood damage to analyse the haemolysis in a range of ventricular assist devices.
Katharine was awarded a Marie Curie (International Incoming) Fellowship and joined the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2011. Katharine works in Prof Peter Weinberg's research group. Her research interests build on previous work using CFD for calculating blood flow, to look at flow and mass transport in the mouse aorta and their effect on endothelial permeability. Increased permeability of the endothelium leads to atherosclerosis and therefore heart attack and stroke, so better understanding of the factors influencing endothelial permeability will have a direct impact on human health. A further area of research is echo-PIV, a novel method of using ultrasound to measure blood velocity.
Publications
Journals
Zhang J, Chen X, Ding J, et al., 2013, Computational Study of the Blood Flow in Three Types of 3D Hollow Fiber Membrane Bundles, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering-transactions of the Asme, Vol:135, ISSN:0148-0731
Poelma C, Fraser KH, 2013, Enhancing the dynamic range of ultrasound imaging velocimetry using interleaved imaging, Measurement Science and Technology, Vol:24, ISSN:0957-0233
Zhou B, Fraser KH, Poelma C, et al., 2013, ULTRASOUND IMAGING VELOCIMETRY: EFFECT OF BEAM SWEEPING ON VELOCITY ESTIMATION, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Vol:39, ISSN:0301-5629, Pages:1672-1681
Fraser KH, Weinberg PD, 2012, A NUMERICAL STUDY OF SPHINGOSINE-1-PHOSPHATE RECEPTOR ACTIVATION IN AN ARTERIAL BRANCH, Atherosclerosis, Vol:225, ISSN:0021-9150, Pages:E3-E3
Conference
Bazigou E, Bailey E, Sowinski P, et al., 2014, UNILATERAL NEPHRECTOMY AS A MODEL OF ALTERED BLOOD FLOW FOR THE STUDY OF ARTERIAL PERMEABILITY, Autumn Meeting of the British-Atherosclerosis-Society (BAS), ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD, Pages:E4-E5, ISSN:0021-9150