My name is Aude LOUMEAUD and I recently graduated from the HealthTech PhD track. To summarize my job, I usually say that I investigate the human body with the tools of a mechanical engineer. My objectives are to understand various physiological and pathological mechanisms such as pathologies. As a first research project, I have been working for four years on the study of a specific genetical expression in muscles: my research explored how the Klf10 gene, known to cause bone diseases when deleted, also influences the skeletal muscles.
Using a combination of medical imaging (elasticity imaging using Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and numerical modeling, I highlighted a softening in a muscle component called ExtraCellular Matrix, altering the muscle functionality. The link between medical imaging and numerical modeling? The ITI HealthTech. Thanks to this program, I was provided a high-quality interdisciplinary training as a Master student, as well as funding for both my Master thesis and my PhD thesis, co-directed by ICube in Strasbourg and BMBI in Compiègne. Additionally, HealthTech included scientific events that I could organize and animate as a member of the student board. Overall, I am happy that I took a big turn from my engineering studies to enroll in the HealthTech program and finally became a researcher in biomechanics.
Future plans
In early 2026, I will join the Institut für Rechtsmedizin at LMU in Munich as a postdoctoral researcher. My future works will be conducted in the context of forensic biomechanics and especially accident reconstruction. This position strongly focuses on computational and experimental biomechanics, as well as medical imaging, an interdisciplinary set of competences that I acquired in Strasbourg.
