FEUP - Research Grant - MagneticBlood_3

1 Research Grant Announcement (M/F)

Call open for applications for a research grant within the framework of project PTDC/EME-APL/3805/2021 – MagneticBlood - Magnetorheology of human blood towards the development of new treatment therapies, funded by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES , under the following conditions:

Scientific Area: Mechanical Engineering.

Admission requirements: Candidates who cumulatively meet the following two requirements may apply for this grant:

Requirement 1:

- Be a student enrolled in a doctoral program in the area of Mechanical Engineering, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

or

- Holder of an academic degree enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units, a requirement to be duly proven at the time of signing the contract.

Note: In the case of masters who are enrolled in non-academic degree courses, the scholarship can only be awarded to those who do not exceed, with this scholarship contract, including possible renewals, an accumulated period of two years in that typology of the scholarship, followed or interpolated.

and

Requirement 2:

-Hold a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

If the degree has been awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of the Decree-Law no. 66/2018, of august 16th, and any formalities established there must be fulfilled until the time of signing the contract.

Activity Outline: The objective is to study the influence of the application of external magnetic fields (with different intensities) on the rheological properties of whole human blood. Blood samples will be collected from healthy human adult volunteers under informed consent. Steady-state shear and oscillatory shear tests will be performed using a rotational rheometer. The non-linear response of whole blood will be analyzed using large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS). For these tests different strain amplitudes of 10, 50 and 100 will be imposed. All measurements under steady and oscillatory shear flow must be performed at the physiological temperature of 37ºC. The same experimental tests will be performed then by the influence of a magnetic field, varying its intensity.

A Capillary Break up Extensional Rheometer (CaBER) will be used to assess the longest relaxation time of whole blood. For the assessment of the extensional properties, an experimental setup for the extensional rheometer with a high-speed camera will be used in order to follow the time evolution of the filament thinning. In order to apply a magnetic field, an add-on designed to fit in the CaBER, will be used. It provides homogeneous and tunable magnetic field and is designed in two configurations, either to impose a magnetic field parallel or perpendicular to the axis of deformation. Once the blood is fully characterized, the experimental data will be fitted to rheological models available in literature. Additionally, the effect of the magnetic field will be also considered. In this way, considering the constitutive equation of the blood flow together with the dependence on the magnetic field, a Matlab GUI will be developed with the aim to provide a simple App that has interactive controls allowing others to experiment with the rheological parameters (viscosity, viscoelastic moduli, relaxation time) and variables (shear rate, magnetic intensity field…) of the constitutive equations.

Legislation and regulations: Law Nº. 40/2004, of 18th August, in its current wording (Statutes of Scientific Research Fellow) and Regulation of Research Grants of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in force ( https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/regulamento.phtml.pt ) and Regulation of Research Grants of University of Porto, in force.

Work place: The work will be developed at CEFT laboratories, Transport Phenomena Research Center of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), under the scientific supervision of Professor Laura Campo Deaño and Professor Francisco José Galindo-Rosales.

Grant duration: Initial duration of 12 months, with the predicted starting date in September 2022, on an exclusive basis eventually renewable but never exceeding the project duration.

If the recruitment procedures do not allow the grant to last for a minimum of 3 consecutive months, in accordance with paragraph 3 of article 6 of the Research Grant Regulations of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. , the scholarship will not be awarded.

The eventual renewal of the scholarship will be carried out as determined in article 6 of the Research Grants Regulation of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.

Stipend: The grant stipend amounts to 1.144,64€ according to the table of values of the grants awarded directly by FCT, I.P. in the Country (https://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores ).

The payment will be made by bank transfer.

Selection procedure:

The curricular evaluation (60%) of the candidates will be based on the merit of the candidate and the following factors will be assessed:

a) Academic training (Master in Mechanical Engineering– until 10 points)

b) Research experience in the area of rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics (until 1 year – until 3 points, master thesis in this subject – until 5 points)

c) Experience in experimental techniques of fluid flows characterization in microchannels, microfabrication techniques, data post-processing (until 1 year – until 3 points, master thesis in this subject – until 5 points)

Only candidates with a classification equal to or greater than 13 points will be interviewed (interview (40%), up to 20 points).

The interviews can be done in person at FEUP, or by videoconference through the Skype or similar application.

Selection Jury:

President: Professor Laura Campo Deaño

Effective member: Professor Francisco J. Galindo-Rosales

Effective member: Professor Fernando Manuel Coutinho Tavares de Pinho

Supplementary member: Dr. João Mário Rodrigues Miranda

Supplementary member: Professor Manuel António Moreira Alves

Advertisement of final decision: The results of the evaluation will be released to the candidates

by email to the email address indicated in the application process.

Deadline for applications and form of presentation of the applications:

The call is open from 03-08-2022 to 17-08-2022 (until 23h59m, GMT time).

Applications must be formalized by email to [email protected] and to [email protected] , clearly stating the reference FEUP-MagneticBlood_3 and including the following pdf documents: Motivation letter, Copy of certificates evidencing academic degree (referring the classification of each separated or integrated degree), detailed Curriculum Vitae; Declaration on honor that the candidate fulfills the requirement contained in article 6 of the Regulation for Research Grants of the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (model below, for student enrolled in a non-academic degree course integrated in the educational project of a higher education institution, developed in association or cooperation with one or more R&D units) and other documents considered relevant by the applicant.

In order to assure that all documents can be read, the preferred saving format is the Portable Document Format (.pdf).

Declaration on honour

I, (identification of the scholarship holder), holder of the Citizen Card / Visa / Residence Permit no. valid until _____, declare under honour, to be in the conditions of no. 5 of article 6º of the Research Grants from FCT, IP - Regulation No. 950/2019, of 16 December.

Oporto, __/__/__

Signature

_________________

(scholarship holder)