Developing near-infrared responsive liquid crystal elastomers for an adjustable pulmonary artery band

项目摘要 在美国出生的儿童中，大约每100人中就有1人患有先天性心脏病(CHD)。近一年 这些儿童中有四分之一患有“严重”的先天性心脏病，需要在出生后一年内接受手术治疗。 对于CHD是肺动脉高压的来源的患者(例如，血液不受限制地流向 肺)，一种姑息性的肺动脉带(PAB)可以用来调节血流。传统的Pabs是 如果由于血流动力学改变而需要调整，则修复并因此使儿童接受重复手术 和/或适应增长。因此，受影响的儿童的发病率和死亡率很高。这 Proposal通过开发和优化新型刺激响应材料来满足这一临床需求 与PABS集成，允许可调整。 光是将微创可重构性引入PAB的理想刺激。的目标是 这项研究活动是将光响应材料与PAB相结合，使PAB的直径能够 通过血管内光纤导管通过动脉壁传递的光进行重新配置。目标1是 专注于材料开发和集成到利用刺激响应性的新型PAB设计中 材料。目标2将评估细胞和宿主对刺激反应材料的反应，并开发 如有必要，制定应对策略。从长远来看，刺激反应材料的进化将 导致各种各样的适应生长和改变形状的医疗设备，将改善患者 结果和生活质量。 这一合作研究项目将在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校与 蒂莫西·怀特博士和克里斯蒂·安塞斯博士的指导和支持。培训计划包括发展 技术技能(例如聚合物化学、医疗器械设计和生物材料的生物测试)和 专业技能(例如，沟通技能、职业发展和科学推广)。总而言之，这是 申请者将为他未来的职业生涯提供宝贵的培训，成为一名以外科医生为重点的科学家 将新型生物材料转化为有效的医疗器械和技术。

Project Summary Approximately 1 in 100 children born in the United State have a congenital heart defect (CHD). Nearly a quarter of these children present with “critical” CHDs, requiring surgical intervention within the first year of life. For patients in which a CHD is the source of pulmonary hypertension (e.g., the unrestricted flow of blood to the lungs), a palliative pulmonary artery band (PAB) can be applied to regulate blood flow. Conventional PABs are fixed and thus commit children to repeated surgeries if adjustments are needed due to altered hemodynamics and/or to accommodate growth. As a result, the affected children suffer from high morbidity and mortality. This proposal addresses this clinical need by developing and optimizing novel stimuli-responsive materials for integration with PABs to permit adjustability. Light is an ideal stimulus to introduce minimally invasive reconfigurability to the PAB. The objective of this research activity is to integrate photoresponsive materials with PABs to enable the diameter of the PAB to be reconfigured via light delivered by an endovascular fiber-optic catheter through the artery wall. Aim 1 is focused on material development and integration into novel PAB designs that leverage the stimuli-responsive material. Aim 2 will assess the cellular and host responses to the stimuli-responsive material and develop strategies to engineer these responses if necessary. Long-term, the evolution of stimuli-responsive materials will lead to a wide variety of growth-accommodating and shape-changing medical devices that will improve patient outcomes and quality of life. This collaborative research project will be undertaken at the University of Colorado Boulder with mentorship and support from Dr. Timothy White and Dr. Kristi Anseth. The training plan includes development of technical skills (e.g. polymer chemistry, medical device design, and biological testing of biomaterials) and professional skills (e.g. communication skills, career development, and scientific outreach). In sum, this application will provide the applicant with invaluable training for his future career as a surgeon-scientist focused on translating novel biomaterials into impactful medical devices and technologies.