Grant: Alliance Grants

In this proposal we will develop and test a new device to measure heart pressure, heart rate and blood flow from animals without the need for anesthesia. This device will be implanted into the abdomen or on the back of the animal and have leads that are surgically implanted into the heart. To develop this device a team of engineers will work with researchers from the UBC Faculty of Medicine. The devices will first be tested in a laboratory setting to optimize data collection protocols, power supply, and electronics as well as to ensure the devices can be remotely charged. Devices will then be surgically implanted into the animal and heart pressure, blood flow, and rate will be sampled beat-by-beat for 24hrs per day for up to 12 weeks. We also plan to develop a new device that can be used in conjunction with the telemetry system to enable us to assess the strength of the heart's contraction without the need for additional surgery. The development and testing of these devices, as well as the data we will obtain from within the same animals over time, will provide a significant advancement to the life science field as current approaches are not able to track all of these indices over time or assess the strength of the hearts contraction over time. The devices are expected to have applications across the life sciences, medicine, and industry.