"MIT engineers develop biohybrid robotic replica of the heart's right chamber"
MIT engineers have developed a robotic replica of the heart's right ventricle that combines real heart tissue with synthetic, balloon-like artificial muscles. The replica can mimic the beating and blood-pumping action of live hearts, allowing scientists to study right ventricle disorders and test devices and therapies aimed at treating those disorders. The model accurately replicates the anatomy and function of the right ventricle, including its intricate valves and structures. It can be tuned to simulate healthy and diseased states, such as pulmonary hypertension and myocardial infarction, and can be used to test cardiac devices, such as mechanical valves. The researchers hope to eventually pair the replica with an artificial model of the left ventricle to create a fully tunable, artificial heart.