Practical Functions

The dry-laboratories are dedicated to three purposes

1) Testing medical devices such as artificial heart valves and vascular stents for safety and effectiveness.  For this purpose, we assemble mock circulatory systems to test the durability and biocompatibility of implants

2) Training surgeons to perform end-to-side anastomoses of artificial arteries made from silicone tubing.  We use micro-computed tomography and numerical analysis to objectively assess each surgeon’s manual skill.

3) Analyzing vascular abnormalities such as cerebral aneurysms in individual patients.  We devise instruments that enable clinicians and surgeons to visualize blood flow and compute hemodynamics to help them determine optimal patient-specific treatments.