Research Vision:

Experimental Surgical Services is an industry leader in the assessment of pre­clinical class Ill devices and surgical techniques. We focus on the development of large animal surgical models for testing safety and efficacy of Class Ill implantable medical devices.

Research Areas:

• Research of Implantable Devices and Surgical Techniques

• Animal Modeling of Human Disease

• Research Bioethics

Research Publications:

1. Hofferberth SC, Saeed MY, Tomholt L, Fernandes MC, Payne CJ, Price K, Marx GR, Esch JJ, Brown DW, Brown J, Hammer PE, Bianco RW, Weaver JC, Edelman ER, Del Nido PJ. A geometrically adaptable heart valve replacement. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Feb 19;12(531):eaay4006. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay4006. PMID: 32075944; PMCID: PMC7425635

2. Zhang BL, Bianco RW, Schoen FJ. Preclinical Assessment of Cardiac Valve Substitutes: Current Status and Considerations for Engineered Tissue Heart Valves. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2019 Jun 7;6:72. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2019.00072. PMID: 31231661; PMCID: PMC6566127.

3. Syedain Z, Reimer J, Lahti M, Berry J, Johnson S, Tranquillo RT. Tissue engineering of acellular vascular grafts capable of somatic growth in young lambs. Nat Commun. 2016 Sep 27;7:12951. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12951. Erratum in: Nat Commun. 2017 Jan 17;8:14297. PMID: 27676438; PMCID: PMC5052664.

4. Gallegos RP, Nockel PJ, Rivard AL, Bianco RW. The current state of in-vivo pre-clinical animal models for heart valve evaluation. J Heart Valve Dis. 2005 May;14(3):423-32. PMID: 15974538.

5. Gallegos RP, Rivard AL, Suwan PT, Black S, Bertog S, Steinseifer U, Armien A, Lahti M, Bianco RW. In-vivo experience with the Triflo trileaflet mechanical heart valve. J Heart Valve Dis. 2006 Nov;15(6):791-9. PMID: 17152787.