2023-08-30 11:32:57
August 30, 2023 Today at 1:31 PM
This miniature heart will be “bioprinted” on a chip and will make it possible to research the mechanisms at the origin of cardiac aging.
Five Belgian companies and research centers are developing a miniaturized artificial heart and associated blood vesselswhich will be sent in 2025 to the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct heart health researchthe various partners in the Zwijnaarde technology park (Ghent) said on Wednesday.
The project named AstroCardia brings together researchers from Space Applications Services, SCK-CEN, QBD Group, BIO INX and Antleron.
Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common causes of death in the world, explains Hilde Stenuit, coordinator of the project.
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“Our heart changes as we age. It slowly gets bigger and stiffer, arteries calcify, and pumping power deteriorates. In space, factors such as stress, microgravity and radiation cause an aging process twenty times faster. The platform that we will design will make it possible to research the mechanisms at the origin of cardiac aging,” she explains.
The researchers will “bioprint” a miniature heart on a chip and build an artificial blood vessel system around it. It is a “heart on chip”, a chip of a few square millimeters on which cardiac muscle cells are printed. The “ink” is made up of biomaterials and stem cells that can develop into any cell in the body.
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Cells begin to divide and organize to form a developing human heart, called the cardiac organoid. A system of artificial blood vessels feeds this heart with stimuli, oxygen and other nutrients until it is fully developed and begins to beat. Scientists can then carry out tests there.
This test will take place in 2025 when this artificial heart will be on board the ISS for four to six weeks.
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