Micropatterns Enhance Endothelial Cell Migration Under Flow Conditions
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality among adults in the US. As a result, nearly 600,000 coronary and peripheral vascular bypass graft surgeries are performed in the US each year. To overcome limitations of current gold-standard auto-grafting and synthetic grafting methods, Sharklet Technologies, Inc. (STI) proposes a tissue engineered vascular graft comprised of a Sharklet micropatterned acellular extracellular matrix to enhance graft incorporation via guided endothelial cell migration onto the graft lumen.