BME Special Guest Lecturer:
Stephane Avril

Multiscale Digital Twins IN CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE
Abstract:
Aortic aneurysms and dissections require personalized therapeutic strategies to reduce the risk of catastrophic complications. This lecture introduces a multiscale digital-twin framework combining fast surrogate biomechanical models, machine-learning–based inverse identification, and tissue mechanobiology. At the clinical scale, latent-space representations enable rapid patient-specific simulation to predict complications such as endoleaks. At the material scale, inverse methods and neural-network constitutive models reveal regional tissue properties and rupture indicators. At the biological scale, growth-and-remodeling models describe how proteolytic injury, hemodynamics, and cellular processes drive disease progression. By integrating these components, digital twins become powerful tools to support diagnosis, intervention planning, and future therapies for delaying vascular aging.
Bio:
Stéphane Avril is Professor of Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering at Mines Saint-Étienne, France, and Director of the SAINBIOSE laboratory (INSERM U1059). He received his PhD in Mechanical and Civil Engineering from Mines Saint-Étienne in 2002. His research focuses on biomechanics and mechanobiology of soft tissues, with particular emphasis on cardiovascular applications. His work combines medical imaging, experimental characterization, computational modeling, and patient-specific digital twins. He has led major research programs funded by the ERC, ANR, BPI France, and Horizon Europe. He is the recipient of an ERC Advanced Grant (JuvenTwin) and previously held an ERC Consolidator Grant. He has been a Visiting Professor at Yale University and Guest Professor at TU Vienna and TU Graz. He has authored more than 230 peer-reviewed publications and supervised over 50 PhD students and 25 postdoctoral researchers. He is cofounder of PrediSurge and KaomX, translating biomechanical research into innovative medical and research technologies. He was elected to the World Council of Biomechanics in 2026 and has received several international awards for his contributions to biomechanics.

Websites:
https://emse.fr/~avril
https://sainbiose-lab.fr/