Events

Date: 6 November 2024   Time: 15:00 - 16:00

Location: SEMS Seminar Room, 3rd floor, Engineering Building

Title

Facial aging: from clinical perception to biomechanical characterization

Abstract

The perception of facial aging is a complex, multisensory phenomenon whose criteria may vary according to ethnicity and geographical area. Nevertheless, there are recurring clinical signs such as the increase of visibility of wrinkles or sagging.

The mechanics of the various skin layers and underlying tissues play a decisive role in understanding these clinical phenomena. However, few studies to date have focused on the mechanistic links between these mechanical properties and clinical signs, thus bringing the worlds of mechanical engineering and the clinic closer together.

In this contribution, we will discuss the concept of augmented clinical studies which, by combining experimental methods and numerical simulation, enables us to go further in our understanding of facial aging and in the design of more effective cosmetic treatments.

About the speaker

Dr Roberto Santoprete graduated in physics at the University of Pisa (Italy). During his PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and the Max Planck Institute of Berlin (Germany) he investigated by atomistic simulations how mechanical deformations affected the electronical and optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures. Then, during his postdoc at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris (France), he worked on the process of growth of semiconductor nanostructures by simulating the impact of the experimental condition inside a plasma reactor.

Since 2005 he has been working at the L'Oréal Research & Innovation labs in France as a research engineer first and as a research associate and project leader since 2018. His work focuses on fundamental and applicative aspects of the (1) biomechanics of the skin and the underlying tissues, in relationship with longevity or with the sensory perception, (2) the mechanics of slender structures and its applications to the control of the human hair shape and movement, (3) the thin film damage on soft substrates and its application of the lastingness of cosmetic coatings on skin.