Boston University’s College of Engineering

Boston University’s College of Engineering, Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School and Microfabrica Inc., a microdevice manufacturer, will collaborate to develop instruments and procedures that will make open-heart surgery a minimally invasive procedure. The project will be funded by a five-year, $5 million National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Research Partnership award. The team’s aim is to bring the precision of conventional open-heart surgery to minimally invasive instruments and tools, allowing repairs to be made on a beating heart via both open-heart surgery and catheter intervention. Under a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the team is developing robotic instruments controlled by a joystick that extend into the heart through needle-size incisions in the chest and heart walls. The new technology may benefit adults, children and fetuses.