Engineering matters

MIT professor and biomedical engineer Ellen Roche directs the Therapeutic Technology Design and Development Lab, which incorporates soft robotics, advanced fabrication methods, and computational analysis tools to develop novel devices helping heal the heart, lungs, and other tissues. Some of the devices her team designs are intended for implantation into patients, such as a soft robotic ventilator, while others, such as a 3D-printed replica of a patient’s heart, enable research and testing of other therapies.

She encourages her students to find ways to collaborate and be flexible – and to get some kind of industry experience while still in school. She says she tells them, “Be open to accepting good opportunities as they arise, work with like-minded people, and work hard at what you are doing, but readapt when you need to.”

Roche has worked on several medical devices, including the soft, implantable ventilator; a mechanism preventing the buildup of scar tissue; and the robotic heart, created by using 3D printing. For the robotic heart, Roche and her team start with an MRI scan of a patient’s heart and, using a soft material, print a replica of the heart, matching the anatomy, including any defects. With such a realistic model, the researchers can then apply different treatments, such as prosthetic valves or other implantable devices, to test them and learn more about the biomechanics that are involved.

The 3D-printed heart, and other medical simulators Roche has worked on, greatly facilitate and improve the testing of patient interventions – and may one day also be used as implantable devices in humans.

The current research advances that excite Roche most, she says, include treatments and devices customizable to be patient-specific, such as in silico trials and digital twins where computational approaches can facilitate the investigation in various interventions and prediction of their outcomes.

Roche’s expanding research on physical biorobotic simulators and computational models has attracted interest from industry and clinical teams. She was recently approached by a local hospital to build models for training heart surgeons on how to select which pump or ventricular assist device to use depending on a patient’s particular case. The models allow the surgeons to explore the efficacy of the assist devices at work.

With all her experience, Roche provides seemingly simple advice to her students who want to have an impact on the world: “Find a way to combine what you love, what you are good at, and what will help others.”

MIT
https://www.mit.edu