Grant: Project Grant

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects about 1 in 100 newborns and is the leading cause of infant deaths in Canada. Many children with CHD need surgery to repair problems with their pulmonary valve (PV) and artery, which control blood flow from the heart to the lungs. Unfortunately, current surgical materials cannot grow with the child and often fail within a few years, requiring multiple risky surgeries. Our research is developing a new kind of living heart valve that could grow and function naturally in children, reducing the need for repeated surgeries. Traditional tissue-engineered valves often fail due to scarring. These failures happen in part because the synthetic materials used do not match the natural flexibility of a child's heart valve. To solve this, we designed special scaffolds - tiny support structures made from biodegradable materials - using a technique called melt electrowriting. These scaffolds mimic the stretchiness of a real pulmonary valve. When we seeded them with cells from umbilical cords, they formed living tissues that functioned more like a natural valve. In early lab tests, our biomimetic (nature-inspired) valves avoided the scarring seen in traditional designs. Now, we are moving to preclinical testing in young pigs, whose heart valves resemble those of children. Our study has three goals: 1. Improving materials - We will refine our scaffolds using new materials that are more elastic and biodegradable than what we have used to date. 2. Engineering a patch - In addition to valves, we will engineer biomimetic patches that are required to repair the blood vessel during valve replacement surgery. 3. Testing in live animals - We will implant our new valves in piglets to see if they prevent scarring and work properly in the mid-term. By the end of this project, our work could be a major step toward creating heart valves that grow with children, reducing the need for repeated surgeries and improving the lives of those with CHD.