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JAKKA, PRASAD

PRASAD JAKKA
Biomechanics & Mechanobiology, SIMBIOsys
Postdoctoral Researcher

Veera Venkata Satya Varaprasad Jakka completed his Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India in 2014. He then pursued his Master's from Politecnico di Milano, Italy in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Mechanical Design in 2017. His master's thesis entitled "Characterization of composite laminates interlaminar toughness" to study the influence of toughening interleaving mats on the behavior of autoclave cured composite laminates.  An extensive experimental campaign was performed to assess properties of both reference and interleaved materials. In particular, tensile tests, in-plane shear tests, fatigue tests, tests on interlaminar properties (ILSS, DCB, ENF), compression after impact tests (CAI) were carried out. Tests were performed on room temperature, high temperature and wet conditions. The experimental results are validated with FE simulations.  After that he worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer in the National Research Council in Milan, Italy.

He then worked as a Ph.D. Researcher at Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic. His Ph.D. reserach is based on Fininte element simulations of mechanical behaviour of endothelial cells. The initial phase of his research involved FE simulations with experimental validations, resulting in publication in the journal "Biomed Research International" (Impact Factor: 3.24 - Q2). The subsequent phase focused on the phsiological loads of an endothelial cells by combining a hybrid structural model of the cell with a macroscopic model of artery. The findings investigated the impact of pulsating blood pressure on cyclic deformations of the nucleus, which increase substantially with decreasing axial pre-stretch of the cell and the importance of relatively low shear stresses in the cell response and nucleus deformation. This work was published on the journal "Computers in Biology and Medicine" (Impact Factor: 7.7 - Q1). The final segment of his Ph.D. research employed a continuum mechanics approach to simulate cell-substrate decohesion. Debonding of the cell-substrate interface under cyclic strech of the substrate was studied by using cohesive zone method. The prepartion of manuscript is in progress.  During his Ph.D. research, he has successfully finished two internships abroad (One at "The Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France"  and the other one at "Swansea University, UK"). He published two full-text papers in international proceeding  and attended several international congresses. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in May 2021. Then he worked as a Development Engineer (FE models) in Automobile industry.

He is currently working as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology Team at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. He is working for Bone strength project “analysis for osteoporosis management and fracture prevention (BONE STRENGTH - CPP2021-008574)”. His research is primarily concentrated on developing the open-source solver "MoFEM" (Mesh-Oriented Finite Element Methods) for bone computational biomechanics, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, UK. This involves integrating MoFEM with existing 3D-Shaper modeling methods and an automated finite element analyses (FEA) module to predict femur strength.