The development of safe and effective medical devices relies on accurate testing platforms which are used for their evaluation prior to human use. Current models of disease such as valvular heart disease, congenital disease, and heart failure cannot mimic disease with high fidelity, and their ability to predict the efficacy of medical treatments is limited.

 

In my work, I develop soft robotic tools that can be implanted to recreate the biomechanics and hemodynamics of cardiovascular disease in a highly tunable and customizable way. I developed soft robotic cardiac and aortic sleeves that can mimic the anatomy and function of a patient’s heart and aortic valve in both physiology and disease. In animal models, these sleeves can recapitulate human disease with high-fidelity. These models can be used for device development and personalized interventional planning.