PhD. Fellow Viktor Jönsson

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a degenerative joint disease that affects the cartilage in the knee, and its progression is not completely understood. To expand our KOA disease progression knowledge, we will study how articular cartilage adapts to forces at different stages of osteoarthritis, utilising and developing advanced numerical models.

A Finite Element (FE), which solves differential equations, will conduct the work. Differential equations often describe how something works, and the equation’s solutions estimate how something will be without the need for real tests.

Initial studies will focus on using small cartilage samples to tune the FE [LG3] model so that it can replicate real human tissue properties based on existing experimental data. Later studies will implement the results into a full 3D FE knee model. The 3D FE knee model will be used in mechanobiological frameworks to predict the progression of KOA based on clinical data from patients with KOA. The end goal is that the FE model can help select the best treatments for KOA and find those at elevated risk for developing KOA early before the cartilage has degenerated too much.

Initial studies will focus on small cartilage samples to tune the FE model to replicate human tissue properties based on existing experimental data. Later studies will implement the results into a full 3D FE knee model. This model will be used in mechanobiological frameworks to predict KOA progression based on clinical data from KOA patients. The end goal is that the FE model can help select the best KOA treatments and find those at elevated risk of developing KOA early before too much cartilage degeneration occurs.

Viktor has a Master of Science in Engineering Physics from Lund University. Before becoming a PhD student in June 2022, Vhe worked as a FE engineer and team leader for a FE group doing vibration and durability analysis for six years. You can read more about Viktor’s work on Lund University’s homepage here.