CARDIOFLUIDMECHANICS · Internal Biofluid Dynamics in embryonic cardiovascular development, reduced order vascular growth models

Internal Biofluid Dynamics in embryonic cardiovascular development, reduced order vascular growth models

A state-of-the art research laboratory specialized in cardiovascular fluid mechanics, cardiovascular devices and bioengineering is established in Europe. This milestone includes associated infrastructure and trained personnel that can address the future advanced experimental in vitro research studies and cardiovascular computational modeling. This research capability is essential to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases through novel surgical interventions and devices. The team members that are trained under this project promoted the culture of joint clinical/bioengineering effort towards finding cure for patients who suffer. Therefore, during the project timeline multiple interdisciplinary research activities are demonstrated collaborating with cardiovascular clinicians throughout the Europe as well as globally. Almost all of these studies are published in the peer-reviewed literature. Partially funded through CIG the project research team is now fully capable to lead any cardiovascular bioengineering investigation utilizing computational, experimental tools as well as in vivo animal models. During the project timeline, around 40 peer-reviewed journal articles are published and 45 peer-reviewed conference presentations are delivered at the major international conferences. Example research accomplishments are highlighted briefly. We have developed new boundary condition schemes for computational fluid dynamic models of large vessels and tested their accuracy. We applied these boundary conditions to simulate the hemodynamic performance of 1st stage palliative surgeries. Collaborating with pediatric cardiovascular surgeons we published a series of three publications on this subject; including a patient-specific surgical planning case study. We have studied the impact of shunt configuration on the neonatal neural perfusion first time in literature. Using the computational tools developed; our team investigated the cerebral circulation of neonatal congenital patients during cardiopulmonary by-pass. The later peer-reviewed publication demonstrated major changes in the hemodynamics as a function of arterial cannula configuration first time in literature. On the 3D computational arm, we adopted Open source computational fluid dynamics codes as well as our in house code and worked with clinicians and participated in all experimental validation campaigns. The reduced order lumped parameter models developed during the project period is now extremely sophisticated and primarily applied to projects related to reproductive biomechanics. For example, we have established severity indices that quantify the hemodynamic performance during fetal transition of pre-term babies subject to various clinical interventions at birth. We have also investigated the flow and buckling characteristics of the distal organ-level micro arteries. Both on computational and experimental cardiovascular fluid dynamics and micro-scale biomedical imaging the team and infrastructure of my lab is evolved as outstanding and would be critical in our future research projects. We also published high-impact novel studies on cardiovascular solid mechanics and cardiovascular biology. For example, the full non-dimensionalization of cardiovascular circulation networks is established as a major contribution to the cardiovascular systems theory. We are currently applying this approach to understand complex cardiovascular dynamics in various species, including congenital diseases in human. Initiated by this CIG project, sustainability of this laboratory is further demonstrated by the notable follow-up national and eu level funding that it received. Outreach activities include two national workshops on bioengineering of congenital heart diseases, development of a new course on bioinspired biomedical device design and interdisciplinary studies with visual art towards developing a children book focusing cardiovascular system. During the project PI delivered 22 invited talks at the major international and national universities disseminating project results and findings. The research group also trained several high-school and undergraduate research students. Dr. Kerem Pekkan, the researcher managing the FP7–CIG 293931 (Acronym: CardioFluidMechanics) expresses gratitude to the European Commission for their valuable support. This grant has facilitated and helped Dr. Pekkan’s career integration during this important period in his academic career. Updated information about the research laboratory is available from the following links. http://bio-fluids.org/contact.html http://www.facebook.com/pekkan.lab www.linkedin.com/in/kerempekkan orcid.org/0000-0001-7637-4445

Data: CORDIS, © European Union