Project on regenerative medicine BRAVƎ aims to restore cardiac tissue

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iBET participates in BRAVƎ, an international regenerative medicine project aimed at restoring cardiac functionality by developing an advanced biological and personalised ventricular assist device (BioVAD).

This device will be able to pump alongside a damaged heart, providing functional support to patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, a debilitating chronic disease. This is one of the most prevalent cardiac diseases and the single main cause of death in the European Union, both in men (14%) and women (12%). Moreover, ischemic cardiomyopathy represents a significant economic burden with an estimated cost of €59M per year.

BRAVƎ brings together the latest scientific and technological advances in bioengineering and regenerative medicine such as 3D printing, computational modelling and advanced bioengineering. iBET role in the project is the production and multidimensional characterization of matured cardiomyocytes (see image below) for clinical use. Furthermore, iBET will coordinate the activities related to the production and maturation of BioVADs, whose safety and efficiency will be subsequently assessed in animal models.

"We believe that this research and the solutions arising from it, may contribute to a significant improvement in the health and quality of life of patients through less dependence on medication and a closer medical follow-up", says Margarida Serra, iBET researcher working on BRAVƎ.

The BRAVƎ project is coordinated by Clinica Universidad de Navarra and funded with a total of €8M by European Union programme H2020.

Alongside iBET, 13 European institutions are part of this initiative: Clinica Universidad de Navarra (Coordination, Spain), Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Universitäts-klinikum Würzburg (Germany), Servicio Madrileño de Salud (Spain), University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain), Leartiker S. Coop. (Spain), University of Zaragoza (Spain), EBERS Medical Technology S.L (Spain), Boston Scientific (Ireland), AE Medicalis (the Netherlands), and Ciaotech (Italy).