Biodegradable tubes that turn into living blood vessels once implanted in the human body. In an imaginary, modern remake of Fantastic Voyage, Isaac Asimov would probably navigate his submersible through the folds of our cardiovascular system, to figure out how this process occurs. And, he would understand that, regardless of how perfect these tubes look in the lab, once implanted in the human body, their performances are drastically influenced by the mechanical loading imposed by the blood flow and pressure. Eline Van Haaften, Ph.D. candidate from Biomedical Engineering, developed a bioreactor that mimics blood circulation within the body. She identified some of the possible causes of failure of lab-made vessels. Her results could be used to improve the design of lab-made vessels and accelerate clinical translation for patients with cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Van Haaften defends her Ph.D. thesis on October 1st at TU/e.
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Source: Phys.org