Description du projet
Un capteur médical implanté et changeant de forme pour une surveillance continue de la tension artérielle
De nombreux patients concernés par une pression artérielle élevée ont besoin d’un suivi à long terme afin d’adapter les traitements médicamenteux et d’améliorer les effets des soins. Les chercheurs qui travaillent sur le projet SMARTSHAPE, financé par l’UE, ont déjà mis au point un capteur innovant permettant de mesurer la pression artérielle en continu, battement par battement, et pouvant être utilisé en dehors d’un environnement hospitalier. SMARTSHAPE va à présent relever les défis liés à la biocompatibilité, à la longévité et à l’acheminement vers le tissu cible afin de commercialiser le capteur. Les chercheurs tenteront de concevoir un nouveau biomatériau: un polymère à mémoire de forme dépendant de la température qui permettra au capteur de se recourber, d’être introduit dans le corps par une procédure peu invasive et de s’ouvrir lorsqu’il atteindra la température du corps pour prendre une forme prédéfinie.
Objectif
Hypertension is the leading global contributor to premature death, accounting for over 9M deaths worldwide each year. Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a chronic lifetime risk factor. If left undiagnosed or poorly controlled, high BP can lead to serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Whereas long-term BP monitoring is required in many high-risk patients, there is no clinically accepted method of continuous BP monitoring that can be used outside of hospital settings. Thus, there is an unmet clinical need and a huge market opportunity for a medical-grade, user-friendly, and minimally invasive solution for long-term, continuous BP monitoring.
The SMARTSHAPE consortium has developed and IP-protected a technologically disruptive sensor for continuous pressure measurement. However, several challenges related to biocompatibility, longevity, and delivery to the target tissue need to be overcome to deliver the sensor to the market. This project will address these challenges by formulation of an innovative biomaterial: a novel temperature-dependent shape memory polymer (SMP). The use of SMPs will enable the development of a microsensor that can be curled up, introduced into the body through a minimally invasive procedure, and ‘opened up’ when placed at body temperature to take a pre-defined shape. After integration of the biomaterial in the sensor, validation data will be generated for proof-of-performance, longevity, biocompatibility, safety, and sensor delivery through bench testing and in vivo preclinical studies. Quality and manufacturing aspects will be addressed and a regulatory strategy and lifecycle assessment delivered. BP monitoring will represent the first application, but the potential of the sensor goes far beyond that. Use cases for other healthcare applications such as intraocular or intracranial pressure will be explored, which will significantly broaden the potential and market-creating value of the project results.
Champ scientifique
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Régime de financement
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinateur
H91 Galway
Irlande