Dr. Junfeng Zhang, Full Professor, Bharti School of Engineering, Laurentian University, Canada

Biography: Dr. Zhang obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Alberta, Canada in 2005. He then worked in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA for two years as a NSERC postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Zhang joined the Laurentian Engineering School in 2007 as an assistant professor, and has been promoted to full professor in 2016.
Dr. Zhang’s research mainly focuses on computational modeling and numerical investigations of microscopic complex flows. Relevant research areas include microfluidics, multiphase flows, microscopic biofluids, nanofluids, heat and mass transfer, and model and boundary method development in the lattice Boltzmann method. He has published more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Speech Title: Computational Microscopic Blood Flows: Model Development and Applications

Abstract: Continuously circulating through the body, blood performs many crucial biological functions, including the supply of oxygen and nutrients to, removal of metabolic waste from tissues, circulation of white blood cells, antibodies and platelets for immunization and self-repair, and regulation of body pH and temperature. These functions are mainly accomplished in the microvascular network composed of microvessels and capillaries. As observed in fundamental studies and clinical observations, abnormal microscopic blood flow behaviours are often associated with various diseases and disorders, such as heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, malaria, anemia, and atherosclerosis. Therefore, a good knowledge of blood flows in microcirculation is important for both biological and biomedical concerns.
In this presentation, we first describe our immersed-boundary lattice-Boltzmann model for red blood cell (RBC) flows. This method integrates the lattice Boltzmann method to solve the flow field and the immersed boundary method for the flow-cell interaction, as well as other components such as the cell membrane mechanics, intercellular aggregation, and fluid viscosity update. This model has been applied in simulations of various microcirculation situations, including the RBC separation at microvascular bifurcations, cell-free layer development, wall shear stress (WSS) variation, and effects of RBC properties on cell dynamics. Our results have revealed valuable information for better understanding the complex blood flow behaviours in microcirculation and such information could be useful for potential biomedical applications.

Keywords: Computational Hemodynamics, Red Blood Cell Dynamics, Microscopic Blood Flows, Lattice Boltzmann Method, Immersed Boundary Method.