Impairments of cardiac mechanical function are associated with some of the most frequent diseases in high-developed world, such as heart failure (a loss of ventricular contractility, which makes the heart pump unable to maintain blood flow to meet the body's needs) or brain stroke provoked by atrial fibrillation, which can lead to blood clots.

The REPAIR project addresses these two cardiac diseases and proposes to develop cardiac assist devices based on innovative polymeric platforms that may allow moving toward an unmatched therapy for cardiac injuries. Such an approach may revolutionize the current therapeutic approaches to ventricular and atrial contraction failure.

The researchers explain their objective further in the project proposal:

“Our revolutionary idea to solve these clinical challenges is to exploit smart materials to support or restore the cardiac mechanical function. Ideally, materials should be able to modulate their strength kinetics and stiffness to fit the features of striated muscles. So far, many attempts to create materials or devices have failed in reproducing the natural muscle function and regulation. In this regard biocompatible polymers able to work as actuators are gaining interest.”

REPAIR will tackle two main issues related to the topic: how to reproduce natural muscle function and what are the limitations of currently available cardiac contraction assist devices. In order to resolve these questions, the researchers want to develop a mechanically and energetically efficient biomimetic material. The new material will fulfil the needed functional requirements, such as: having similar or greater strength than cardiac muscle, ability to quickly contract and relax, and tunable activation control; working at room or body temperature; and being readily micro-fabricated, light-weighted and able to operate in body fluids.

REPAIR was chosen in 2019 EIC Pathfinder call (FET Proactive: emerging paradigms and communities, FETPROACT-EIC-05-2019), in the subtopic category of implantable autonomous devices and materials. Since September 2020, the project is realized by academic and research entities from Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The coordinating institution is University of Florence (Università degli Studi di Firerenze).

Background information

FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.