Storing and reviving living donor heart valves for children's transplants
Ex Vivo Storage, Preservation And Rehabilitation Of Living Heart Valves For Allogenic Valve Transplantation
This project is creating methods to store living donor heart valves so they stay healthy and available when children with congenital valve disease need replacements.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Florida International University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Miami, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11106745 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If my child needs a heart valve, this work aims to keep donated living valves alive and able to grow and repair themselves. The team will combine a preservation solution that supports valve cell metabolism with machine-driven, heart-like mechanical stimulation to rehabilitate valves outside the body. They will test whether valves remain viable, retain growth capacity, and provoke less immune reaction during extended storage of six to eight weeks. The goal is to make ready-to-use living valves more available and easier to use when surgery is needed.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates would be infants and children with congenital heart valve defects who may need valve replacement with a living, growth-capable graft.
Not a fit: Patients who need mechanical valves, adults who are not candidates for living allografts, or those with active infection or certain immune disorders may not benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could make growing, living donor valves available off-the-shelf for children, reducing repeat surgeries and improving long-term outcomes.
How similar studies have performed: Living allogenic valve transplantation is an emerging approach with promising early reports, but extended ex vivo storage and rehabilitation for weeks is largely novel and not yet well established.
Where this research is happening
Miami, United States
- Florida International University — Miami, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kalfa, David — Florida International University
- Study coordinator: Kalfa, David
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.