At the beginning of the year I graduated from the Graz University of 
technology with a Master’s degree in Biomechanics and Neural 
Engineering. I decided to do my mayor in biomechanics because I have 
always been fascinated by the fact that physiological processes can be 
described by mathematical formulations. During this time I had the 
opportunity to get an insight into the different fields of 
biomechanics. From the field of parameter acquisition by medical image 
analysis to a further description of different problems by continuum 
mechanics. In different courses I was able to learn the basics of the 
finite element method which helps to solve these problems numerically.
In my master’s thesis I focused on fractures in biologically 
anisotropic materials. The aim of this study was to simulate an aortic 
dissection that can be compared to the crack propagation which was 
observed in patients.

Currently I work as a PhD student in this department. From my PhD I 
expect to get a deeper insight into the development of 
patient-specific models. In particular, models for cardiovascular 
diseases of the heart, as these diseases or the factors that triggers 
them in the first case are still largely unknown.
This is only possible if further methods are researched to obtain 
meaningful parameters and if methods for simulating the course of the 
disease are developed.