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This PhD research uses computational modeling of the left ventricle (LV) to understand how cardiac structure, tissue properties, and mechanics interact to govern heart function in health, during growth and adaptation, and in disease and therapy.

A specific focus of this research is the modeling of tissue-engineered cardiac patches for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI). MI remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and can progress to heart failure through adverse ventricular remodeling (AVR). Tissue-engineered cardiac patches, placed over the infarcted region, are being investigated as a strategy to mitigate AVR, promote tissue repair, and restore cardiac function. Using a finite element model of chronic MI in a realistic LV geometry, the infarct region is characterized by impaired active stress generation, increased passive stiffness, and reduced wall thickness. This work examines how patch design parameters, including thickness, stiffness, and contractility, influence cardiac pump function and tissue loading, providing valuable design guidance for regenerative cardiac therapies.

Since MI may lead to AVR, this raises a more fundamental question: how does cardiac tissue actually grow and remodel? In the heart, growth and remodeling (G&R) can occur as a physiological response to changes in cardiac loading conditions, such as during exercise or pregnancy, or as a pathological response to disease. Growth refers to an increase in tissue mass, whereas remodeling refers to changes in tissue properties.

In contrast to conventional growth models that directly prescribe the magnitude and direction of growth, the present work proposes an alternative framework in which tissue volume changes emerge from the balance between the intrinsic drive for tissue growth and the mechanical resistance imposed by the surrounding tissue. This growth framework is coupled with a fiber remodeling algorithm in which myocardial fibers reorient in response to mechanical loading.

Dr.ir. Peter Bovendeerd

This work is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 874827 (BRAV∃)

From Excitation to Contraction: What Drives Transmural Homogeneity of Cardiac Fiber Strain Despite Asynchrony of Depolarization? – In Submission

The Tissue-Engineered Cardiac Patch: An In-Silico Analysis of the Effect of Design Options on Organ and Tissue Level Function – Under Review

van Kerkhof, B. P., Janssens, K. L., & Bovendeerd, P. H. (2025, May). Modeling Adaptive Fiber Reorientation in the Left Ventricle: Evaluation in an Ellipsoidal and a Patient-Specific Geometry. In International Conference on Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart (pp. 282-294). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Kerkhof, B. P. V., Janssens, K. L., Barbarotta, L., & Bovendeerd, P. H. (2023, June). Evaluation of mechanical unloading of a patient-specific left ventricle: a numerical comparison study. In International Conference on Functional Imaging and Modeling of the Heart (pp. 575-584). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.