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

项目摘要 在美国出生的每100名儿童中就有1名患有先天性心脏病（CHD）。近一 这些儿童中有四分之一患有“严重”CHD，需要在生命的第一年内进行手术干预。 对于CHD是肺动脉高压来源的患者（例如，血液不受限制地流向 肺），可以应用姑息性肺动脉带（PAB）来调节血流。传统的PAB是 如果由于血流动力学改变而需要调整， 和/或适应增长。因此，受影响儿童的发病率和死亡率很高。这 一项提案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PAB集成以允许可调节性。 光是将微创重构引入PAB的理想刺激。的目标 这项研究活动是将光敏材料与PAB结合起来，使PAB的直径能够 通过由血管内光纤导管通过动脉壁递送的光来重新配置。目标1是 专注于材料开发和集成到新型PAB设计中， 材料目的2将评估细胞和宿主对刺激响应材料的反应，并开发 在必要时设计这些反应的策略。从长远来看，刺激响应材料的发展将 导致了各种各样适应生长和改变形状的医疗装置， 结果和生活质量。 这项合作研究项目将在科罗拉多博尔德大学进行， Timothy白色博士和Kristi Anseth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学试验），以及 专业技能（如沟通技能、职业发展和科学推广）。总之，这 申请将为申请人提供宝贵的培训，为他未来的职业生涯作为一个外科医生，科学家为重点 将新型生物材料转化为有影响力的医疗设备和技术。

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.