Gut motility, or peristalsis, facilitates nutrient uptake and excretion of waste via mixing and breakdown of food. This is accomplished via coordinated mechanical contractions of the gut wall, which are governed by complex muscular, hormonal and neural inputs. In this project multi-modal techniques will be developed and utilised, involving flexible electronics and cameras, to gain an integrated understanding of the control mechanisms of the gut.

This project has a strong experimental component, where pharmaceutical and/or electroceuticals will be utilised to increase or suppress gut motility in animal models with potential translation to human experimental studies. The aim of the project will be to build a joint hardware and analytical framework to enable a better understanding of the pathways of gut control during normal and abnormal/disused function.

Desired Skills

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Engineering, Physics or equivalent. Experience with data analytics, camera systems, biosignal processing and machine learning. Some familiarity with MATLAB, Python, electrical engineering, control systems and experimental/clinical physiology would be desirable.

Relevant published papers

• High-resolution optical mapping of gastric slow wave propagation
• High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Quantification of Intestinal Motility with Free-Form Deformation

Funding

Marsden project grant

Find out more about this project and other projects on our website here.

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