Engineering the next generation of biologically active vascular grafts.

血管移植物已经使用了50多年，是一种既定的做法，用于替换从主动脉瓣到髂骨分叉的任何病变的主动脉段。这些医疗器械的两个主要临床问题是感染的风险和由于材料的促血栓形成活性而导致血栓狭窄的风险，这通常会导致新的手术。有人假设，这些移植物缺乏内皮化可能是造成这些问题的重要原因。该项目将开发具有增强生物功能的新生物材料，使用生长因子和细胞外小泡，最大限度地促进内皮化过程，并开发下一代血管移植物。该项目将由格拉斯哥大学和Terumo Aortic共同开发，Terumo Aortic是制造血管移植物的世界领先者。这是一个多学科的项目，将在材料和细胞之间的界面上工作。该项目将允许学生发展一些实验技术方面的技能，包括细胞外小泡分离和表征、功能生物材料的表征、原子力显微镜、共聚焦显微镜以及生物材料和细胞之间界面的细胞和分子生物学。

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.