Professor Zhong You

Research

The specific area of research consists of two parts: origami structures/materials and structures for minimum invasive surgery.

Biosketch

My specific area of research is deployable structures, origami structures and structures for minimum invasive surgery. I have invented many new deployable structures and published a monograph entitled “Motion Structures” in 2011. Additionally, I have been working on medical devices for minimum invasive surgery since 2000. I developed the first stent graft using origami principles for treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Subsequently I invented a TAA (thoracic aortic aneurysm) stent graft that had a curved profile. The stent graft could be made to morph the anatomy of a patient, and hence reducing the risk of migration and endoleak. Recently, my collaborators and I invented a new flow diverter for treating cerebral aneurysms. The new flow diverter, known as the Oxiflow, can be made from laser-cut a nitinol tube. It is extremely flexible allowing its deployment in torturous blood vessel in brain, and at the same time, has sufficient radial stiffness that prevents it from collapsing when subjected to the pressure of the blood vessel wall. The invention formed one of the three research themes in the Wellcome’s centre of excellence for personalised healthcare award granted to my department in 2010.

My research has attracted attention from both academic community and general public. My research has been reported in national media such as the BBC, Financial Times and science magazines including Eureka, Science and Nature (Nature 472, 8 (07 April 2011) doi:10.1038/472008a). In 2005, I participated in the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Subsequently, my exhibition entitled “Motion Structures” was selected as a showcase of British science and engineering at the Science Day Exhibition at the Buckingham Palace. SCIENCE introduced my work in their “profile” section (Science, 332, 1376-77)