Patients suffering from cerebral aneurysm are often treated with devices such as flow diverters. However, as seen with many other blood-contacting devices, flow diverters are associated with issues surrounding platelet adhesion and thrombosis. Current solutions to mitigation of adhesion and thrombosis include dual-antiplatelet therapy, but this can also be associated with adverse bleeding events. Reducing platelet adhesion and thrombosis associated with flow diverters can also be accomplished by producing a layer of native tissue over the surface of these devices. To this end, CaRE Lab researchers are working to induce tissue growth at the surface of flow-diversion devices through magnetic endothelial cell capture.
To accomplish this, existing flow diverters and novel magnetic flow diverters have been characterized magnetically in order to predict the efficacy of the device for the purpose of magnetic cell capture. Subsequently, endothelial cells will be labeled with magnetic nanoparticles and used for cell capture studies. This will allow researchers to establish the ability of the devices to attract cells in the presence of an external magnetic field. Additionally, the CaRE Lab will investigate how well these magnetically attracted cells adhere to the surface of flow diverters in the presence of physiological shear stress induced by blood flow conditions. Each of the above investigations will help researchers determine whether the described method of cell capture is effective for the purpose of endothelializing flow diverters in vivo.
Amanda ThomeAmanda is currently seeking her B.S./M.S. in the MU-MCW Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Aleks Zielonka Aleks is currently seeking her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering with a focus on heart valve tissue engineering.
The team at CaRE is looking for hardworking students with an interest in cardiovascular tissues and regenerative engineering. For more information on becoming a student of the Cardiovascular Regenerative Engineering Laboratory, contact Dr. Brandon Tefft.
