Project description
Designing safer blood-contacting devices
Medical implants such as stents and heart pumps save lives, but because blood reacts to them as foreign objects, patients are often forced to take high-risk blood thinners to prevent dangerous clotting. The ERC-funded HemoStratum project aims to redesign the interface where the device meets the body. Specifically, researchers are using a mix of electrodeposition and photolithography to ‘print’ tiny, mesoscopic patterns onto the device surface. Once the geometry of these patterns is identified, these textures will act as a scaffold, encouraging the patient’s own endothelial cells to grow over the device and form a natural, stable and organised living lining. This endeavour could lead to implants that the body essentially ignores, preventing clots and the need for high-risk medication.
Objective
Each year, over 10 million of transitory and permanent blood-contacting devices are implanted worldwide, playing a crucial role in addressing cardiovascular diseases and providing life-sustaining support. However, despite their widespread use, sub-optimal biocompatibility still represents a major challenge, compromising safety, efficacy, and durability. Up to 70% of patients experience device-related hemocompatibility issues, significantly affecting their quality of life. To mitigate these risks, antithrombotic drugs are commonly prescribed, yet these systemic treatments come with severe complications, including postoperative bleeding, stroke, and hemorrhage. To address these limitations, material surface modification strategies have been explored to improve the hemocompatibility of blood-contacting devices, with a particular emphasis on promoting stable endothelialization. Among these approaches, physical modifications, such as surface patterning, are considered superior to biological and chemical functionalization because they offer a long-lasting performance, without degrading or losing functionality over time, unlike conventional surface coatings. Despite the continued interest from both industrial and academic research, there are no clinically available bioengineered substrates that integrate mesoscale and microscale surface features able to promote and maintain stable device endothelialization that can ensure long-term resistance to thrombus formation. In this proposal, we aim to optimize and validate HemoStratum, a bioengineered substrate fabricated by our proprietary processing technology. By integrating electrodeposition and photolithography, HemoStratum leverages on both microfibers and meso-patterns identified to promote endothelial cell proliferation and structural organization. This notion represents a radical innovation that can enhance hemocompatibility of a broad spectrum of blood-contacting devices while ensuring long-term stability, and durability.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-POC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
90133 Palermo
Italy
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