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).
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)
- Early diagnosis and intervention of osteoporosis using nanovibrational stimulation
- 01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2021
- RAMP-ES - Recruitment of Antagonist Muscle Pairs using Electrical Stimulation
- Coupaud, Sylvie (Principal Investigator)
- Electrically-stimulated synergistic recruitment of antagonist muscle pairs, to maximise bone stimulation in the paralysed limbs of patients with spinal cord injury
- 01-Jan-2018 - 31-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-2022
- 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-2022
- 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
- Development of a Model of Peripheral Blood Flow in Cortical Bone
- Kazakidi, Asimina (Principal Investigator) Coupaud, Sylvie (Principal Investigator)
- 20-Jan-2016 - 04-Jan-2017
More projects
Address
Biomedical Engineering
Wolfson Building
Wolfson Building
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