Concept & Methodology
The project’s ambition is to provide a multifunctional, smart cardiac patch that, when translated to the clinic, is expected to significantly prevent heart failure in patients surviving an acute MI, reducing mortality and enhancing their quality of life.
REBORN will respond to this unmet clinical need by means of a synergistic integration of multifunctional biomaterials and electrospinning technology (ESP) to deliver a fibrous piezoelectric patch able to provide the full set of cues required to promote a functional heart tissue remodelling.
Despite the advances in the treatment of coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction (MI), the latter still remains the most common cause of heart failure. The idea underlying REBORN project originated in response to this unmet clinical need, with the ambitious goal to provide a solution (patch) that could reduce the overall risk of death due to heart failure after MI.
The REBORN patch is designed to be an “off-the-shelf” product that can be applied using a minimally invasive intervention in patient undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention after MI. As several overlapping factors contribute to heart failure after MI, each of them will be targeted by the developed patch in order to foster a functional tissue remodelling.
REBORN will rise to this challenge through its unique regenerative concept aimed at facing the multiple and interlocked aspects underlying heart failure by means of a smart, multifunctional biomaterialbased device.
