Biosketch

Jérôme Noailly holds a bachelor’s degree in physical chemistry, an Engineer’s and a master’s degree in Material Science, and a master’s degree in Acoustics. In 2002, he started a PhD on spine computational biomechanics at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona (UPC), Spain, focussing on theoretical approximations in finite element modelling. In 2006, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship (MECNOR-518768) and worked in computational mechanobiology for cartilage tissue engineering at the AO Foundation (Davos, Switzerland) and at the Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands), including the experimental characterisation and computational analyses of fibrin gels. In 2009, he went back to Barcelona with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie reintegration grant (SEVBIOM-249210) and retook spine modelling activities at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain. The same year, he won the Best PhD Thesis award in Engineering from the UPC. In 2010, he co-led a major European research proposal, My Spine (FP7-269909), which was funded. In 2012, in his quality as principal investigator (PI) the My Spine project, he became the head of the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology group at IBEC, being responsible for up to five contracted full-time researchers, and he seized the opportunity to expand the research of the group to the field of computational systems biology, in the framework of another European project, The Grail (FP7-278557).

In 2015, Jérôme relocated at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), in the quality as PI of the Multiscale and Computational Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (MBIOMM) group (2014-SGR-1616). As a member of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) and SIMBIOSys group at UPF, he generated synergies to integrate medical image analysis and machine learning dimensions into his research. At the same time, he was consolidating the integration of computational systems biology approaches for multiscale explorations of tissues and organs. In 2016, he was awarded a Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RYC-2015-18888) from the Spanish government, and in 2019, he became Tenure-Track Associate Professor at DTIC. He is currently leading the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology Area of the Barcelona Centre for New Medical Technologies (BCN MedTech- 2017-SGR-1386) and he is the Coordinator of the European project Disc4All (H2020-IT-ETN-955735).

He has been supervising seven PhD theses (three to completion), and he has 110+ contributions to congresses, two book chapters and 41 articles in international journals, out which nearly 70% are in Q1 journals. He has given a total of 15 invited, keynote and plenary talks at conferences, organised by both engineering and medical societies. At UPF, he is teaching biomechanics, biomaterials and musculoskeletal system modelling, subjects that he is also coordinating. Since 2018, he is additionally coordinating the UPF bachelor’s in biomedical engineering. Internationally, he is member of the Excecutive Commitee of the Council of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB), past president of the National Spanish Chapter of the ESB, and Chair of the Student Committee of the Virtual Physiological Human Institute (VPHi).

Publications

2021

• Baumgartner, L. et al. Multiscale Regulation of the Intervertebral Disc: Achievements in Experimental, In Silico, and Regenerative Research. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22, 703 (2021).

2020

• Loenen, A. C. Y. et al. Misaligned spinal rods can induce high internal forces consistent with those observed to cause screw pullout and disc degeneration. Spine J. (2020) doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2020.09.010.
• Burgos, C. P. et al. In-Ear Accelerometer-Based Sensor for Gait Classification. IEEE Sens. J. 20, 12895–12902 (2020).
• Ruiz Wills, C. et al. Relative fragility of osteoporotic femurs assessed with DXA and simulation of finite element falls guided by emergency X-rays. Rev. Osteoporos. y Metab. Miner. 12, 62–70 (2020).
• Baumgartner, L., Reagh, J. J., González Ballester, M. A. & Noailly, J. Simulating intervertebral disc cell behaviour within 3D multifactorial environments. Bioinformatics (2020) doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa939.

2019

• Ruiz Wills, C. et al. 3D patient-specific finite element models of the proximal femur based on DXA towards the classification of fracture and non-fracture cases. Bone 121, 89–99 (2019).
• Lluch, È. et al. Breaking the state of the heart: meshless model for cardiac mechanics. Biomech. Model. Mechanobiol. 18, 1549–1561 (2019).
• Tassani, S., Font-llagunes, J. M., Miguel Ángel, G. B. & Noailly, J. Muscular tension significantly affects stability in standing posture. Gait Posture 68, 220–226 (2019).
• López-Linares, K. et al. Image-Based 3D Characterization of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Deformation After Endovascular Aneurysm Repair. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 7, (2019).

2018

• Ceresa, M., Olivares, A. L., Noailly, J. & González Ballester, M. A. Coupled Immunological and Biomechanical Model of Emphysema Progression. Front. Physiol. 9, 2712–2715 (2018).
• Van Rijsbergen, M. et al. Comparison of patient-specific computational models vs. clinical follow-up, for adjacent segment disc degeneration and bone remodelling after spinal fusion. PLoS One 13, 1–24 (2018).
• Ruiz Wills, C., Foata, B., González Ballester, M. Á., Karppinen, J. & Noailly, J. Theoretical Explorations Generate New Hypotheses About the Role of the Cartilage Endplate in Early Intervertebral Disk Degeneration. Front. Physiol. 9, 1–12 (2018).
• Carrera, I. et al. An intact fibula may contribute to allow early weight bearing in surgically treated tibial plateau fractures. Knee Surgery, Sport. Traumatol. Arthrosc. 26, 756–761 (2018).
• Tassani, S., Pani, M., Noailly, J. & Gonzalez Ballester, M. A. Trabecular Fracture Zone Might Not Be the Higher Strain Region of the Trabecular Framework. Front. Mater. 5, 1–9 (2018).

2017

• Olivares, A. L. et al. In Silico Analysis of Haemodynamics in Patient-Specific Left Atria with Different Appendage Morphologies. in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) vol. 10263 LNCS 412–420 (2017).
• Mountris, K. A. et al. Modeling the impact of prostate edema on LDR brachytherapy: A Monte Carlo dosimetry study based on a 3D biphasic finite element biomechanical model. Phys. Med. Biol. 62, (2017).

2016

• Carrera, I. et al. Fixation of a split fracture of the lateral tibial plateau with a locking screw plate instead of cannulated screws would allow early weight bearing: a computational exploration. Int. Orthop. 40, (2016).
• Olivares, A. L., González Ballester, M. A. & Noailly, J. Virtual exploration of early stage atherosclerosis. Bioinformatics 32, 3798–3806 (2016).
• Ruiz Wills, C. et al. Simulating the sensitivity of cell nutritive environment to composition changes within the intervertebral disc. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 90, 108–123 (2016).
• Mangado, N., Piella, G., Noailly, J., Pons-Prats, J. & Ballester, M. Á. G. Analysis of Uncertainty and Variability in Finite Element Computational Models for Biomedical Engineering: Characterization and Propagation. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 4, (2016).
• Mangado, N. et al. Automatic Model Generation Framework for Computational Simulation of Cochlear Implantation. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 44, (2016).

2015

• Toumanidou, T. & Noailly, J. Musculoskeletal modeling of the lumbar spine to explore functional interactions between back muscle loads and intervertebral disk multiphysics. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 3, (2015).
• García, S. et al. Generation of stable orthogonal gradients of chemical concentration and substrate stiffness in a microfluidic device. Lab Chip 15, 2606–2614 (2015).
• Malandrino, A., Jackson, A. R., Huyghe, J. M. & Noailly, J. Poroelastic modeling of the intervertebral disc: A path toward integrated studies of tissue biophysics and organ degeneration. MRS Bull. 40, (2015).
• Malandrino, A. et al. On the relative relevance of subject-specific geometries and degeneration-specific mechanical properties for the study of cell death in human intervertebral disk models. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 3, (2015).

2014

• Malandrino, A., Noailly, J. & Lacroix, D. Numerical exploration of the combined effect of nutrient supply, tissue condition and deformation in the intervertebral disc. J. Biomech. 47, (2014).
• Noailly, J., Malandrino, A. & Galbusera, F. Computational modelling of spinal implants. Computational Modelling of Biomechanics and Biotribology in the Musculoskeletal System: Biomaterials and Tissues (2014). doi:10.1533/9780857096739.4.447.
• Malandrino, A. et al. The role of endplate poromechanical properties on the nutrient availability in the intervertebral disc. Osteoarthr. Cartil. 22, (2014).
• Sánchez Egea, A. J. et al. Impact of hip anatomical variations on the cartilage stress: A finite element analysis towards the biomechanical exploration of the factors that may explain primary hip arthritis in morphologically normal subjects. Clin. Biomech. 29, (2014).

2013

• Malandrino, A., Lacroix, D. & Noailly, J. Intervertebral disc cell death explained by metabolism-deformation couplings in a porohyperelastic finite element model. in Poromechanics V - Proceedings of the 5th Biot Conference on Poromechanics (2013). doi:10.1061/9780784412992.258.
• Ruiz, C., Noailly, J. & Lacroix, D. Material property discontinuities in intervertebral disc porohyperelastic finite element models generate numerical instabilities due to volumetric strain variations. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 26, 1–10 (2013).
• Malandrino, A., Noailly, J. & Lacroix, D. Regional annulus fibre orientations used as a tool for the calibration of lumbar intervertebral disc finite element models. Comput. Methods Biomech. Biomed. Engin. 16, (2013).

2012

• Noailly, J. & Lacroix, D. Finite element modelling of the spine. Biomaterials for Spinal Surgery (2012). doi:10.1016/B978-1-84569-986-4.50005-2.
• Noailly, J., Ambrosio, L., Tanner, K. E., Planell, J. A. & Lacroix, D. In silico evaluation of a new composite disc substitute with a L3-L5 lumbar spine finite element model. Eur. Spine J. 21, (2012).
• Malandrino, A. et al. Anisotropic tissue elasticity in human lumbar vertebra, by means of a coupled ultrasound-micromechanics approach. Mater. Lett. 78, 154–158 (2012).

2011

• Noailly, J., Planell, J. A. & Lacroix, D. On the collagen criss-cross angles in the annuli fibrosi of lumbar spine finite element models. Biomech. Model. Mechanobiol. 10, (2011).
• Malandrino, A., Noailly, J. & Lacroix, D. The effect of sustained compression on oxygen metabolic transport in the intervertebral disc decreases with degenerative changes. PLoS Comput. Biol. 7, (2011).
• Galbusera, F. et al. Comparison of four methods to simulate swelling in poroelastic finite element models of intervertebral discs. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 4, (2011).

2010

• Potier, E., Noailly, J., Sprecher, C. M. & Ito, K. Influencing biophysical properties of fibrin with buffer solutions. J. Mater. Sci. 45, (2010).
• Potier, E., Noailly, J. & Ito, K. Directing bone marrow-derived stromal cell function with mechanics. J. Biomech. 43, (2010).

2008

• Noailly, J., Van Oosterwyck, H., Wilson, W., Quinn, T. M. & Ito, K. A poroviscoelastic description of fibrin gels. J. Biomech. 41, (2008).

2007

• Noailly, J., Wilke, H.-J., Planell, J. A. & Lacroix, D. How does the geometry affect the internal biomechanics of a lumbar spine bi-segment finite element model? Consequences on the validation process. J. Biomech. 40, (2007).

2006

• Lacroix, D., Noailly, J., Salo, G., Càceres, E. & Planell, J. A. The effect of bone graft geometry on spinal fusion vertebral stresses. J. Appl. Biomater. Biomech. 4, (2006).

2005

• Noailly, J., Lacroix, D. & Planell, J. A. Finite element study of a novel intervertebral disc substitute. Spine (Phila. Pa. 1976). 30, (2005).