SPP 2014:  Towards an Implantable Lung

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Biology ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Materials Science and Engineering ; Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 313779459

Functional failures of organs can be permanently compensated only by transplants or artificial organs. Due to the lack of suitable donor organs, only a very small part of the functional failures of organs will be able to be treated by transplants. Therefore, an artificial replacement will be the essential treatment option in the near future. Today an artificial long-term organ replacement for kidney or heart are already routinely used. However, the development of an implantable artificial lung is still in the beginning. In the last years a progress has been made in optimizing the short-term use of an extracorporeal lung support system. The present technical solutions do not allow a long-term use of lung replacement systems in the sense of an implantable artificial lung. In the available systems, the long-term use is limited by a variety of factors. In particular biocompatibility problems lead to an activation of the inflammation and coagulation cascade resulting in clot formation within the extracorporeal system. This thrombogenesis is aggravated by suboptimal flow conditions when areas of non-physiological blood flow occur in the membrane oxygenator. Moreover, there is a deposition of proteins and fibrin on the gas exchange membrane with consecutive limited gas exchange performance, which limits the long-term use. In addition, today's short-term replacement systems allow almost no individually adjustable gas transfer rates for O2 or CO2.Therefore, the aim of this SPP is to provide coordinated basic research in order to solve the problems which prohibit the long-term use and implantation of present lung support systems. Within the framework of this SPP, the biocompatibility of the foreign surfaces has to be improved and strategies for new anticoagulation regimes, approaches for the optimization of the gas and blood flow, miniaturization of the systems as well as methods for individualized changing gas transfer rates have be pursued. The different strategies shall be validated by standardized in-vitro and in-vivo testing procedures. Furthermore, the influence of pathophysiology by long-term support should be also considered.The implementation of this SPP "Towards an Implantable Lung" requires complementary, well-networked competencies in the natural sciences, engineering and material sciences as well as in medicine and medical technology. On this basis, interdisciplinary teams are to create synergies and take significant steps towards the development of an artificial implantable lung.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Netherlands

Projects

• 3DLung - Implantable Artifical Lung Based on Three-Dimensional Membranes (Applicants Steinseifer, Ulrich ;  Wessling, Matthias ;  Wiegmann, Bettina )
• A systematic approach for an improved patient-device-connection to allow a long-term lung assist (ConnLA) (Applicants Arens, Jutta ;  Kopp, Rüdger )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Rossaint, Rolf )
• Elucidating the pathway of thrombosis and inflammation in artificial lung devices using a proteomics approach (Applicant Stoppelkamp, Ph.D., Sandra )
• EndoSpray – Efficient cell coating of biohybrid lungs by atomization of shear-stress resistant endothelial cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (Applicants Olmer, Ruth ;  Thiebes, Anja Lena )
• EndOxy in Flame – Influence of a Biohybrid Lung on Inflammatory Pathways and Immune System-Endothelial Cell-Interaction (Applicants Jockenhövel, Stefan ;  Tenbrock, Klaus )
• Evaluation and development of minimally invasive techniques to connect an artificial lung to the heart and central vessels (Connex AL) (Applicants Spillner, Jan ;  Steinseifer, Ulrich )
• Evolution of biohybrid lung – Genetically modified anti-thrombogenic and immunological invisible endothelial cells used for endothelialization of gas exchange membranes for first in-vivo application (Applicants Figueiredo, Constanca ;  Wiegmann, Bettina )
• Fatal Hemostatic Complications in Artificial Lungs: From Understanding to Prevention - Understanding of Shear-Induced Clotting Mechanisms for Prevention of Thrombosis (Applicants Krenkel, Lars ;  Lehle, Karla ;  Müller, Thomas )
• HIL-Lung - Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation environment for artificial lungs (Applicants Kopp, Rüdger ;  Leonhardt, Steffen )
• Microfluidic cell sorting - A new approach towards implantable artificial lungs (Applicants Rossaint, Rolf ;  Rossaint, Jan ;  Wessling, Matthias )
• Multiscale and Multiphysics Optimization of an Implantable Biohybrid Lung (Applicant Korossis, Ph.D., Sotirios )
• Non-thrombogenic adaptive coatings to modulate coagulation at oxygenator membranes (Applicants Grottke, Ph.D., Oliver ;  Rodriguez-Emmenegger, Ph.D., Cesar )
• Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for endothelialisation of membrane surfaces of implantable biohybrid lung devices (Applicant Martin, Ulrich )
• RenOx – Combined pulmonary and renal support in one novel, highly integrated device for a patient-tailored artificial lung therapy (Applicants Arens, Jutta ;  Neidlin, Michael ;  Wiegmann, Bettina )
• Safety and Automation Concepts for Artificial Implantable Lungs - SmartLungControl (Applicants Kopp, Rüdger ;  Leonhardt, Steffen ;  Stollenwerk, Andre )
• The influence of NO releasing and DNase functional surface on platelet activation and resulting NET formation in oxygenator thrombosis – an in vivo and in vitro evaluation (Applicants Madrahimov, Nodir ;  Rossaint, Rolf ;  Singh, Ph.D., Smriti )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Rolf Rossaint