Growvalve

Growvalve is a Research Ireland funded project advancing the development of a new type of heart valve. This valve is created from regenerative biomaterials and will integrate fully with existing heart structures, unlike conventional valves. 

Dr. Claire Brougham, a researcher at TU Dublin’s tPOT Research Centre and School of Mechanical Engineering, leads a research programme examining the fundamentals and the translation of regenerative biomaterial solutions.

Growvalve is an innovative, tissue-engineered heart valve specifically designed for paediatric patients – a breakthrough that promises to reshape paediatric heart surgery. Current heart valve replacements in paediatric surgery come with a major limitation: they cannot grow with the child. This forces patients to undergo multiple surgeries as their hearts expand with age.

Growvalve seeks to change this narrative by developing a living, biologically integrated valve that grows in tandem with the child’s heart. This groundbreaking approach could eliminate the need for repeated surgeries in children with heart valve disease, reducing long-term health risks and improving quality of life.

Growvalve’s work is made possible through collaborations with

• Prof Fergal O’Brien, Tissue Engineering Research Group, RCSI, Dublin
• Prof Fionnuala Breathnach, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin
• Prof Stefan Jockenhoevel, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Claire is always interested in hearing from highly motivated potential students and postdoctoral candidates, who would like to contribute to this exciting research and other work within her lab; see her TU Dublin PURE Research Profile.

 

Growvalve, is funded by Research Ireland’s Frontiers of the Future Programme under agreement 22/FFP/11399