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Developing a new solution to treat atherosclerosis

By 27 de February de 2012November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 27.02.2012

Developing a new solution to treat atherosclerosis

A new scientific project involving IBEC and three other European research centres is set to offer a novel, minimally-invasive treatment for atherosclerosis patients, thanks to funding awarded by the European Commission. «The Grail» project (Tissue in Host Engineering Guided Regeneration of Arterial Intimal)– will develop a bioactive and bioresorbable scaffold able to locally regenerate the vessel after endovascular surgery – when the atheroma or accumulation in the obstructed arteries is removed – in patients with the disorder.


“The purpose of this in vivo deployable scaffold, which won’t require mechanical removal, is to offer an alternative treatment to mechanical re-channelling or bypassing of obstructed arteries,” explains Elisabeth Engel, senior researcher in IBEC’s Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group, which will carry out the research. “Using a regenerative approach compatible with current minimally invasive surgical techniques, the scaffold will substitute the diseased and stiffened area of artery and be repopulated by resident and circulating cells.

“When it is absorbed harmlessly by the body once its task is completed, all that is left will be physiologically responsive, regenerated tissue.”

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