Dr. Cheryl Quenneville

Overview

Specific Research Activities:

My research interests are in human biomechanics and biomedical engineering, with a focus on:

• Definition of bone fracture limits and injury tolerances
• Surrogates for biomechanical research, including synthetic bones
• Finite element modelling of bone’s response to loading
• Design of artificial joint replacement and fracture fixation systems

My work in injury biomechanics endeavours to quantify the effect of impact loading on the human body.  The goal of this work is to define tolerance limits for bones, and to develop appropriate injury criteria.  I am interested in characterizing the effect of factors such as strain rate, angle of load application, gender, age, and protective wear on fracture tolerance.  The goal of this work is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence injury risk, for the purpose of improving current safety limits.

A further interest of mine is the evaluation of engineered surrogates for their potential to replace cadaveric specimens for orthopaedic research.  These include synthetic bones, which have great appeal in their ease of use and low inter-specimen variability, but need to be validated under both quasi-static and dynamic loading to ensure they appropriately represent the human response.  Another device requiring validation is the Anthropomorphic Test Device, the current standard for evaluating injury risk.  Relationships between outputs from this device and the corresponding risk of injury need to be established for it to be an appropriate tool for safety assessments.

Finite element analysis (FEA) is a useful tool for assessing injury risk through simulation of various types of loads based on CT scans of bones.  Experimental tests can be simulated for both injurious and non-injurious conditions, and through refinement of the properties of the model it can be optimized to represent the natural bone response.  These models can then be used for a broad range of injury-prediction analyses, as well as clinically for patient-specific models to evaluate the risk of fracture as the result of trauma such as falls.

My previous research in orthopaedic devices has examined design aspects of joint replacement systems to evaluate their influence on the loading experienced by the host bone after insertion.  The goal of this work is to enhance fixation and load transfer of these devices to improve their long-term success.  I am also interested in evaluating and improving fracture fixation devices to investigate how optimal healing can be achieved.