Dr Sylvie Coupaud

Lecturer

Biomedical Engineering

Personal statement

My research focus is on the long-term health consequences of spinal cord injury, especially disuse osteoporosis, and the rehabilitation interventions that can be used to tackle them. As well as contributing to increasing our understanding of bone loss after spinal cord injury, I am working with colleagues in the university and with external collaborators to explore options for musculoskeletal rehabilitation in this patient group. We are using peripheral QCT and computational modelling to predict which patients are most susceptible to bone loss, and to develop patient-tailored physical interventions to counteract osteoporosis progression after spinal cord injury. This work has implications for tackling the musculoskeletal deconditioning experienced by astronauts on long-term space missions, or after stroke, multiple sclerosis and natural ageing.

I joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in September 2012 as a Research Fellow, and was appointed as a Lecturer in the same department in November 2015. I am also a member of the Scottish Centre for Innovation in Spinal Cord Injury, and have continued the research started in my previous post at the University of Glasgow (funded by the Glasgow Research Partnership in Engineering), in collaboration with the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit.

Qualifications

I received a BA (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford in 1999, MRes in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in 2001 and PhD in Rehabilitation Engineering from the University of Glasgow in 2005. I worked towards my PhD as a Postgraduate Assistant in the Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering at the University of Glasgow from 2001-2004, and gained clinical experience through a research post at the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow from 2004-2007. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and state-registered as a Clinical Scientist with the Health & Care Professions Council (UK).

Publications

Global and site-specific analysis of bone in a rat model of spinal cord injury-induced osteoporosis: Williams Jonathan A, Windmill James FC, Tanner K Elizabeth, Riddell John S, Coupaud Sylvie; Bone Reports Vol 12 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bonr.2019.100233
On the relationships between applied force, photography technique, and the quantification of bruise appearance: Black Heather I, Coupaud Sylvie, Nic Daiéd Niamh, Riches Philip E; Forensic Science International Vol 305 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.109998
Comparison of the muscle pattern variability during treadmill walking (fixed and self-pace) and overground walking of able-bodied adults: Ibala Eunice, Coupaud Sylvie, Kerr Andrew; Journal of Annals of Bioengineering Vol 1, pp. 1-11 (2019); https://doi.org/10.33513/BIOE/1901-04
Patient-specific bone mineral density distribution in the tibia of individuals with chronic spinal cord injury, derived from multi-slice peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT) – A cross-sectional study: Coupaud Sylvie, Gislason Magnus K, Purcell Mariel, Sasagawa Keisuke, Tanner K Elizabeth; BONE Vol 97, pp. 29–37 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2016.12.014
Bone morphology of the femur and tibia captured by statistical shape modelling predicts rapid bone loss in acute spinal cord injury patients: Varzi Delaram, Coupaud Sylvie AF, Purcell Mariel, Allan David B, Gregory Jennifer S, Barr Rebecca J; BONE Vol 81, pp. 495-501 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2015.08.026
Decreases in bone mineral density at cortical and trabecular sites in the tibia and femur during the first year of spinal cord injury: Coupaud Sylvie, McLean Alan N, Purcell Mariel, Fraser Matthew H, Allan David B; BONE Vol 74, pp. 69-75 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2015.01.005

More publications

Teaching

In 2014, I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I lead and deliver Anatomy and Physiology teaching on the BEng/MEng in Biomedical Engineering (BME) and Sports Engineering degree programmes, and BSc in Speech & Language Pathology, and contribute to teaching Cell Biology to undergraduate students.

I also enjoy supervising project students for the MSc/MRes and final year undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. Completed projects that I have supervised were on the following topics:

Biomechanical characterisation of osteoporotic bone
Finite element modelling of healthy and osteoporotic bone
Characterisation of musculoskeletal interactions after spinal cord injury
Multi-scale modelling of musculoskeletal interactions to inform rehabilitation intervention design
Measuring lower limb peripheral blood flow to investigate its role in maintaining bone health

Professional activities

Spinal Cord (Journal): Peer reviewer; 6/2/2014
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine (Journal): Peer reviewer; 1/10/2013
Skeletal Radiology (Journal): Peer reviewer; 19/12/2012
Journal of Rehabilitiation Research and Development (Journal): Peer reviewer; 1/1/2012
Disability and Rehabilitation (Journal): Peer reviewer; 1/12/2011
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Journal): Peer reviewer; 1/8/2011

More professional activities

Projects

Early diagnosis and intervention of osteoporosis using nanovibrational stimulation (STFC CLASP): Reid, Stuart (Principal Investigator) Coupaud, Sylvie (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2020
RAMP-ES - Recruitment of Antagonist Muscle Pairs using Electrical Stimulation: Coupaud, Sylvie (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2021
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Power Networks and Smart Grids | Gibson, Richard: Reid, Stuart (Principal Investigator) Coupaud, Sylvie (Co-investigator) Gibson, Richard (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2021
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Devices and Health Technologies | Lachendro, Flynn James: Coupaud, Sylvie (Principal Investigator) Chalmers, Susan (Co-investigator) Lachendro, Flynn James (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2021
Medical Devices Doctoral Training Centre Renewal | Gibson, Richard: Reid, Stuart (Principal Investigator) Coupaud, Sylvie (Co-investigator) Gibson, Richard (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2021
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Devices and Health Technologies | Gibson, Richard: Reid, Stuart (Principal Investigator) Coupaud, Sylvie (Co-investigator) Gibson, Richard (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2017 - 01-Jan-2021

More projects

Address

Biomedical Engineering
Graham Hills Building

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