Keith Cook, Phd, The David Edward Schramm Professor and Head, Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
Title: Permanent Respiratory Support with Bioengineered Lungs
Abstract:
Over 15 million people in the US suffer from chronic lung disease, causing 6.9 million ER visits and 180,000 deaths each year. Unfortunately, there are only 3,400 lung transplants each year and no other means of restorative therapies. This shortcoming has motivated our efforts to create a means of permanent, at home artificial lung support. The two biggest roadblocks to achieving this are (1) the large, heavy systems used to support patients within the intensive care unit and (2) the thrombogenicity of the artificial lungs within these systems. To remedy this, the Cook lab works on computational design, construction, and testing of compact, lightweight, biocompatible artificial lungs and the development of biomaterials and pharmaceutical approaches to create artificial lung anticoagulation without causing patient bleeding. Lastly, we have begun work on biofabricated lungs engineered from fully biologic materials.
Bio:
Dr. Cook is the David Edward Schramm Professor and Department Head of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). At CMU, he also serves as the Director of the Bioengineered Organs Initiative and the Transforming Transplant initiative. Dr. Cook’s research focuses on the application of biomedical engineering to the treatment of lung disease. His primary research focus is the development of permanent replacement lungs for destination therapy. This work extends into computational modeling and device design, development of novel biomaterials and new drug approaches to reduce blood coagulation within these devices, and in-vitro and in-vivo biomaterials and artificial lung testing.
