Filtration & fl uid control


essentially make that entire thing completely transparent and explicit for everyone else.” Following an open science approach means more and more training data becomes available, allowing other scientists to build on it to create better models.


Using hydrogels deep inside the body Verheyen says the long-term vision for the research is to translate the initial work into clinical deployment. When it comes to translating the research into practical medical use, the focus will initially be on superficial applications, such as soft tissue repair. The team are interested, however, in looking at how to use the granular hydrogels deeper inside the body to repair 3D-tissue defects, for example in the intracardiac space, in the gastrointestinal tract or in the brain. “We’re trying to think about it with our engineering hat, so we’re thinking about what is hard to get to, because in that case you want a minimally invasive solution,” he says. Verheyen and his colleagues are also interested in defects that vary between patients and require a customised solution. “The intersection of those types of problems are where this type of material can really shine, and so a lot of those deep tissue defects, you don’t want to have to cut the patient open to get to them, and they are really different from patient to patient. It makes it really hard to manufacture


something off the shelf and so potentially we could use this type of approach instead and use these building blocks to manufacture something in there.” Verheyen is also interested in tackling the “inverse problem”, working from the clinical information to create a solution, “for example, you know you need a needle that’s several centimetres long, you know what the diameter should be, you know the modulus of the tissue that you’re trying to match.” Those parameters can then be used to restrict the design space to guide the researcher about where to search to find an “optimal formulation” to address the problem. While computational modelling techniques have been adopted widely in other engineering fields, Verheyen says take-up has been slower in medical engineering, which has more traditionally been “an empirical trial and error field”. He believes the situation is changing, however, though more work needs to be done to make the technique both more approachable and more rigorous. Computational modelling is complex, and the techniques need to be adopted cautiously to reduce the risk of error. “It’s sometimes harder if you don’t have a background in it to know that it’s not being used properly,” he says. Nonetheless, he believes that adoption will gradually spread: “I think at some point, it will just be another tool like anything else we have in our toolbox.” ●


Components for your Innovation


Valve


Minivalve International B.V. Oldenzaal, The Netherlands +31 541 570620 info@minivalve.com


Minivalve Inc. Cleveland, Ohio USA 1-440-201-6211 info.na@minivalve.com


Minivalve Asia Pte., Ltd. Singapore


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