Tissue Engineering of Human Heart Valve Grown In Vitro. Tissue engineering (TE) of heart valves is a new approach to cultivate a functional heart valve from human autologous cells. This innovative study aims to develop the technology to transplant cells onto a 3D biocompatible valve scaffold that is capable of mimicking native valve. The work proposed is a ground breaking study that will encompass development of a new biomaterial, manufacture of scaffolds using the Fused Deposition Modelling ra ....Tissue Engineering of Human Heart Valve Grown In Vitro. Tissue engineering (TE) of heart valves is a new approach to cultivate a functional heart valve from human autologous cells. This innovative study aims to develop the technology to transplant cells onto a 3D biocompatible valve scaffold that is capable of mimicking native valve. The work proposed is a ground breaking study that will encompass development of a new biomaterial, manufacture of scaffolds using the Fused Deposition Modelling rapid prototyping process, hemodynamic optimisation and in vitro cell culture. This will advance our knowledge in cellular and scaffold technologies and may ultimately lead to the development of a TE heart valve.Read moreRead less
Fluid dynamics and mechanical stress of tissue heart valves. Major problems with thrombo-embolic complications and leaflet failure and calcification still exist with bioprosthetic valves. Valves fabricated from polyether urethanes are efficient and can offer more resistance to calcification. No complete study on the haemodynamics and structure interactions is found in literature. Moreover, todate the effect of aortic wall motion on the blood flow has never been examined. A complete holistic ap ....Fluid dynamics and mechanical stress of tissue heart valves. Major problems with thrombo-embolic complications and leaflet failure and calcification still exist with bioprosthetic valves. Valves fabricated from polyether urethanes are efficient and can offer more resistance to calcification. No complete study on the haemodynamics and structure interactions is found in literature. Moreover, todate the effect of aortic wall motion on the blood flow has never been examined. A complete holistic approach to simulataneuosly simulating the fluid dynamics, the valve motion and the stress in a synthetic Polyether urethane valve is proposed. Cell adhesion study will also be carried out. The findings may yield to new insights into valve research.Read moreRead less
Rapid Development of Biocompatible Stent Grafts for Aortic Aneurysms. Weakening of the aorta may cause an aneurysm. The present technique of its treatment involves replacing the weakened portion of the aorta with a synthetic graft. Failure of this treatment often occurs due to non-compatibility of the stent graft with natural aorta. One possible reason for this is a mismatch between elastic natural aorta and the non-elastic artificial graft. The core component of our project is the selection and ....Rapid Development of Biocompatible Stent Grafts for Aortic Aneurysms. Weakening of the aorta may cause an aneurysm. The present technique of its treatment involves replacing the weakened portion of the aorta with a synthetic graft. Failure of this treatment often occurs due to non-compatibility of the stent graft with natural aorta. One possible reason for this is a mismatch between elastic natural aorta and the non-elastic artificial graft. The core component of our project is the selection and development of a suitable biomaterial and optimization of the stent design based on hemodynamics flow analysis and its fabrication with the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process.Read moreRead less
In Vitro Study of Hemodynamic Stresses and Endothelialization of Artificial Coronary Arteries. Restenosis (recurrence of the disease) is a major problem in the case of patients undergoing artificial artery by-pass surgery. Ideally the design for manufacturing the scaffold for cell adhesion of the artery should factor in hemodynamic forces and optimised geometry to withstand the hemodynamic stresses and other forces. This project aims to investigate the material for manufacturing the artificial a ....In Vitro Study of Hemodynamic Stresses and Endothelialization of Artificial Coronary Arteries. Restenosis (recurrence of the disease) is a major problem in the case of patients undergoing artificial artery by-pass surgery. Ideally the design for manufacturing the scaffold for cell adhesion of the artery should factor in hemodynamic forces and optimised geometry to withstand the hemodynamic stresses and other forces. This project aims to investigate the material for manufacturing the artificial artery using Fused Deposition Modeling and to develop methods for the establishment of endothelium on the artificial artery, concluding a restenosis-free solution for by-pass surgery. The knowledge gained through this work would be applicable to the design of other prosthetic devices.Read moreRead less
Computational haemodynamics system for prediction of risk of rupture of cerebral aneurysms. Every year about 2000 Australians suffer a ruptured aneurysm in the brain and some 750 of these die within 4 weeks. Since there is an increase in the detection of unruptured aneurysms, especially in healthy young people, there is an urgent need to be able to decide which lead to rupture and to provide suitable treatment options. This project, which will provide markedly improved means of patient-specific ....Computational haemodynamics system for prediction of risk of rupture of cerebral aneurysms. Every year about 2000 Australians suffer a ruptured aneurysm in the brain and some 750 of these die within 4 weeks. Since there is an increase in the detection of unruptured aneurysms, especially in healthy young people, there is an urgent need to be able to decide which lead to rupture and to provide suitable treatment options. This project, which will provide markedly improved means of patient-specific risk determination for aneurysm rupture, will have significant impact in reducing associated costs on the national health burden due to cerebral hemorrhage and stroke, on community productivity and disability and on more efficient targeting of expensive and dangerous brain surgery.Read moreRead less
Asymmetrically Twisted Structures to form High-Power Rotary Micromotors for In-Vivo Swimming Microrobots. Major surgery is traumatic and risky, but often the only choice for the most serious of diseases that affect older people. In this study, we aim to provide doctors with a means to avoid major surgery and extend the capabilities of doctors to diagnose and treat patients using non- and minimally-invasive procedures: a powerful micromotor carrying its own power supply and a special flagellar pr ....Asymmetrically Twisted Structures to form High-Power Rotary Micromotors for In-Vivo Swimming Microrobots. Major surgery is traumatic and risky, but often the only choice for the most serious of diseases that affect older people. In this study, we aim to provide doctors with a means to avoid major surgery and extend the capabilities of doctors to diagnose and treat patients using non- and minimally-invasive procedures: a powerful micromotor carrying its own power supply and a special flagellar propeller to swim within the vascular and digestive systems of the human body to perform tasks via remote control. We also aim to understand the mechanisms underlying the operation of our motor system and flagellar motion in fluids to assist in the understanding of twisted blade structures and propulsion in fluids on the micro-scale.Read moreRead less