Biographical Sketch

Manuel P. Kainz was born in Wolfsberg, Austria, in 1993. In 2013 he graduated with distinction from the technical high school with a focus on automation and mechatronics. After completing his Civilian Service period, he began studying at Graz University of Technology and the University of Graz (NAWI Graz), where he completed his Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2018. He then enrolled in the master's program in technical physics in Graz. During his studies, he spent two semesters abroad at Uppsala University in Sweden, followed by a two-month summer school program at Wayne State University in Michigan, USA. Manuel carried out his master's thesis under the supervision of Prof. Roland Resel from the Institute of Solid State Physics and in close collaboration with Prof. Josef Simbrunner in Graz, where they developed software for "Indexing of Grazing-Incidence X-Ray Diffraction Patterns". Manuel graduated with distinction in November 2020. In May 2021 he began his doctoral studies at the Institute of Biomechanics at Graz University of Technology. Under the guidance and supervision of Professors Gerhard A. Holzapfel and Gerhard Sommer, his current research focuses on experimental techniques in biomechanics to analyze the relationship between structural and mechanical properties of human brain tissue. In addition to this primary research area, Manuel is actively involved in the development and characterization of soft biomaterials, exploring their potential for biomedical applications and soft tissue engineering.