STAFF PROFILE
Dr Francisco Tovar Lopez
Dr Francisco Tovar received the B. Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He was awarded with an ARC-DECRA and a Vice Chancellor Research Fellow at RMIT in 2012. His research projects involve the creation and development technology to advance knowledge in biomedicine. He also has experience working internationally as a mechanical engineer in the biomedical industry developing artificial organs. He specialises in mechanical design, computational simulation, micro/nano fabrication, fluid experimental techniques and programming languages.
Areas of research and consulting expertise
- Lab-on-a-Chip technologies
- Micro/nanofabrication
- Fluid experimental techniques (micro PIV)
- Computational simulation of solid and fluid mechanics.
- Fluid Dynamics: OpenFOAM.
- Solid Mechanics: OpenFOAM, Ansys basic and advanced non-linear
- Membranes and films: Surface evolver
Course coordinator for:
- EEET2493 Biomedical Instrumentation
- MIET2398 Cardiovascular Engineering
- EEET1142, Problem Solving and Thesis Preparation
- EEET2449 Research Methods
- Tutor of Engineering Computing.
Supervising post-graduate and final year graduate students.
- Ph.D., RMIT University, Melbourne. Biomedical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering, UNAM, National University of Mexico.
- 2004 June to 2006 December – Research Engineer, Innovamedica (Vitalmex) Mexico City, Mexico.
Professional memberships
- Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Patents
Fluid pumping device and components with static seal.
United States Patent Application 20090264697
Filed October 22, 2009. Granted 2013
Inventors: F. Tovar.
Platelet aggregation using a microfluidics device.
Europe Patent Application WO2010102335,
Australia PCT/AU2010/000273.
Filed September 2010
Inventors: J. Carberi, S. Jackson, W.S. Nesbitt, A. Mitchell, F. Tovar.
Awards
- 2007 PhD Scholarship. Conacyt. PhD scholarship.
- 2011 MicroTAS Travel Award
- 2012 Vicechancellour Research Fellow
- 2012 DECRA- ARC Fellow
- 2014 National Research System Mexico Level -1 (SNI-I)
- Tovar Lopez, F. (2023). Recent Progress in Micro- and Nanotechnology-Enabled Sensors for Biomedical and Environmental Challenges In: Sensors, 23, 1 - 38
- Leerson, J.,Tulloh, A.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Gregory, S.,Buscher, H.,Rosengarten, G. (2023). Detecting Oxygenator Thrombosis in ECMO: A Review of Current Techniques and an Exploration of Future Directions In: Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, , 1 - 18
- Abidin, N.,Poon, E.,Szydzik, C.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Mitchell, A., et al, . (2022). An extensional strain sensing mechanosome drives adhesion-independent platelet activation at supraphysiological hemodynamic gradients In: BMC Biology, 20, 1 - 22
- Abdelwahab, H.,Ebrahimi, A.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Beziuk, G.,Ghorbani, K. (2021). Extremely sensitive microwave microfluidic dielectric sensor using a transmission line loaded with shunt LC resonators In: Sensors, 21, 1 - 13
- Abdelwahab, H.,Ebrahimi, A.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Beziuk, G.,Ghorbani, K. (2021). Microwave Microfluidic Sensor for Detecting Heavy Metal Pollution in Water In: Proceedings of the IEEE Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC 2021), Brisbane, Australia, 28 November – 1 December 2021
- Ebrahimi, A.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Scott, J.,Ghorbani, K. (2020). Differential microwave sensor for characterization of glycerol–water solutions In: Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 321, 1 - 7
- Ruvalcaba Cardenas, A.,Ramirez Gomez, R.,Khoshmanesh, K.,Tovar Lopez, F. (2020). Magnetic actuation and deformation of a soft shuttle In: Biomicrofluidics, 14, 1 - 10
- Tovar Lopez, F.,Thurgood, P.,Gilliam, C.,Nguyen, N.,Pirogova, E.,Khoshmanesh, K.,Baratchi, S. (2019). A microfluidic system for studying the effects of disturbed flow on endothelial cells In: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 7, 1 - 7
- Ruvalcaba Cardenas, A.,Thurgood, P.,Chen, S.,Khoshmanesh, K.,Tovar Lopez, F. (2019). Droplet on Soft Shuttle: Electrowetting-on-Dielectric Actuation of Small Droplets In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11, 39283 - 39291
- Akbaridoust, F.,De Silva, C.,Brazilek, R.,Chen, X.,Tovar Lopez, F.,Poon, E.,Ooi, A.,Mitchell, A.,Nandurkar, H.,Nesbitt, W.,Marusic, I. (2018). Examining flow dynamics of platelet function in micro-contractions using micro-PIV In: Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference (AFMC 2018), Adelaide, Australia, 10-13 December 2018
3 PhD Current Supervisions and 1 Masters by Research Current Supervisions4 PhD Completions
- Automatic Blood Clot detection for Extracorporeal Life Support Systems (ECMO machines). Funded by: CSIRO Scholarship from (2022 to 2024)
- Fluorescence and Internal reflection system to develop lab-on-chip devices - Administered by Monash University. Funded by: ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) 2016 from (2016 to 2017)
- Lab-on-a-chip Platforms for Hemodynamics Research: New Approaches for the study of Blood Diseases. Funded by: ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher from (2012 to 2015)