Summary
Zhengchu received her MEng in Mechanical with Nuclear Engineering at Imperial College with 1st Class Honours. The Master's project focused on the simulation of needle insertions with novel motion profiles. She is now pursuing a PhD in the Tribology group at Imperial College.
PhD Research Title: Numerical and Experimental Fracture Mechanic Approach to Needle Insertion Crack Growth of Soft Tissue
The focus of this project is the development of a composite hydrogel (CH) constituting of poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA) and phytagel that is able to match the complex viscoelastic behaviour of brain. Cell viability of the CH substrate is also investigated, therefore extending the research to include mechanobiology and regenerative medicine studies.
Publications
Journals
Tan Z, Dini D, Rodriguez y Baena F, et al., 2018, Composite hydrogel: A high fidelity soft tissue mimic for surgery, Materials and Design, Vol:160, ISSN:0264-1275, Pages:886-894
Tan Z, Parisi C, Di Silvio L, et al., 2017, Cryogenic 3D printing of super soft hydrogels, Scientific Reports, Vol:7, ISSN:2045-2322
Conference
Tan Z, Forte A, Rodriguez y Baena F, et al., Needle-tissue interactions during convection enhanced drug delivery in neurosurgery, International Conference on BioTribology
Tan Z, Forte AE, Parisi C, et al., Composite hydrogel: A new tool for reproducing the mechanicalbehaviour of soft human tissues, WTC 2017
Tan Z, Bernardini A, Konstantinou I, et al., Diffusion Measurement and Modelling, European Robotics Forum 2017