RESEARCH PROFILE

Esther Maas is a PhD candidate in the Cardiovascular Biomechanics research group of prof. dr. ir. Frans van de Vosse, in which she is supervised by dr. ir. Richard Lopata. She works on improving the treatment of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms. The project focusses on determining the mechanical properties of aneurysms using innovative ultrasound techniques and finite element modeling, to predict the rupture risk of the aneurysm. Esther works both on the development of the methods and on the application to patients in the Catharina Hospital Eindhoven, in which she works together with prof. dr. Marc van Sambeek.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Esther Maas studied Biomedical Engineering at the TU/e and obtained her BSc degree in 2016. After that, she started her master Medical Engineering in the Cardiovascular Biomechanics group of prof. dr. ir. Frans van de Vosse. She did an internship at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, where she worked on modeling the influence of compression stockings on blood volume shifts. In her graduation project, she worked on determining the influence of aortic valve stenosis on the rotation of the left ventricle. In this, she used a combination of image processing techniques and finite element modeling of the heart. She obtained her MSc degree in 2018, after which she started as a PhD candidate in the same research group in 2019. In her PhD project, she works on mechanical characterization of abdominal aortic aneurysms, to predict the rupture risk of the aneurysm.

Ancillary Activities

No ancillary activities