Join the Biomedical Engineering graduate program for a research seminar with Dr. Julia de Lange on "The Biomechanics of Injury: Linking Tissue‑Level Experimental Data to Real‑World Injury Outcomes".
Dr. Julia de Lange is an injury biomechanics researcher with expertise in high-rate experimental impact testing. She earned her M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from McMaster University with a focus on injury biomechanics. Her Doctoral work investigated the upper extremity injury potential during ballistic loading events while her Master’s work focused on foot and ankle injury risk in automotive collisions. Since then, she has applied her expertise as a biomechanics specialist in forensic engineering, translating research into real-world applications. Here, she’s tasked with leading biomechanical assessments of injury causation, occupant motion, seatbelt/helmet effectiveness, etc. for legal and insurance clients.
Abstract
Unintentional injuries claim over 3 million lives globally each year, with road traffic collisions alone responsible for nearly 1.3 million fatalities and millions more injuries and disabilities. The field of injury biomechanics aims to reduce this burden, by enhancing the safety and survivability of injurious events in motor vehicle collisions, defence applications, sporting events, and falls. To achieve this, an understanding of the loading the human body endures must be established, as well as a determination of the mechanism for injury or trauma and these findings must be translated to industry to develop methods to mitigate this injury risk.
Dr. de Lange’s research focuses on advancing the biomechanics of injury under acute loading events through an integrated approach that combines physical testing with numerical modeling. Her aim is to improve the biofidelity of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs, commonly referred to as ‘crash test dummies’) and finite element human body models by validating their performance against experimental tissue data and real-world forensic collision outcomes. By leveraging advanced experimental techniques alongside computational modeling, her work seeks to develop impactful injury criteria through innovative solutions and technologies to quantify the physical mechanisms of injury and evaluate a greater range of individual characteristics, posture, and impact conditions on injury risk. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce injury risk and improve protective safety for civilian and defence contexts while moving toward safety systems that reflect the diversity of the global population.
BME Grad Students: you are required to attend 5 seminars each term as part of your degree requirements.
