Engineering the next generation of biologically active vascular grafts.

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Vascular grafts have been used for over 50 years and are the established practice for the replacement of any diseased segments of aorta from the aortic valve to the iliac bifurcation. Two of the main clinical problems of these medical devices are the risk of infection and risk of thrombotic stenosis due to the material's pro-thrombogenic activity which typically lead to new surgeries. It has been hypothesised that the lack of endothelisation of these grafts could significantly contribute to these problems. This project will develop new biomaterials with enhanced biological functionalization using growth factors and extracellular vesicles that maximize the process of endothelisation and develop next generation of vascular grafts. The project will be developed between the University of Glasgow and Terumo Aortic - a world leader in the fabrication of vascular grafts. This is a multidisciplinary project that will work at the interface between materials and cells. The project will allow the student to develop skills in a number of experimental techniques including extracellular vesicle isolation and characterization, characterisation of functional biomaterials, atomic force microscopy, confocal microscopy and cell and molecular biology at the interface between biomaterials and cells.