The Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery is leading the following research projects:

Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Biodegradable Stent

Hybrid procedures, combining surgery and interventional catheterization, have been used in the treatment of complex congenital heart disease. The greatest issue is the stent that is a permanent implant placed in a newborn baby requiring complete surgical removal in the future. In this study, we will design a novel biodegradable stent to be used in a hybrid procedure. This specific project involves bench testing of the biodegradable stents and their performance in animal models.

Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Our strategy involves engineering biodegradable elastic 3D cardiac tissue with oxygen-releasing scaffolding sheets with embedded microchannels. Stacking multiple cell engineered sheets with aligned cellular architecture and vascularization might allow the production of thick, vascularized cardiac tissues. The microscale technology has been shown to generate cardiomyocytes in vitro which may then be incorporated into the 3D porous scaffolds.