| Early Infection
and Rejection Detection: Microdialysis Technique May Help
Implants Stay Put Longer
| Thomas Griffin |
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Millions of medical devices, including catheters,
pacemakers, vascular grafts, and glucose sensors, are regularly
implanted into humans. Despite the frequency of these procedures,
implantation still poses a risk of serious side effects,
including implant site infection and rejection of the implanted
device. Julie Stenken, associate professor of analytical
chemistry, has received a four-year, $750,000 grant from
the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB) to develop a new technique to study the body’s
reaction to implants at the cellular level. The microdialysis
technique can provide information that may someday help
doctors spot infection earlier and prevent rejection from
occurring. Stenken is collaborating with Albany Medical
Center co-investigators Daniel Loegering and Michelle Lennartz.
A microdialysis probe (the size of a 0.5
mm pencil lead) is used to withdraw a tiny sample of extracellular
fluid at the site where the implant and the body’s
tissues meet. Analysis of the sample can detect the presence
and amount of a variety of chemical markers called cytokines
that may indicate early signs of responses to an implant
such as infection or rejection. “If you can understand
the chemical communication that is going on at the implantation
site, you can ultimately bioengineer the site to make it
do what is appropriate for the device,” says Stenken.
“The tools to measure these chemical reactions are
just starting to become available to us.”
The NIBIB coordinates with the biomedical
imaging and bioengineering programs of other agencies and
the National Institutes of Health to support imaging and
engineering research with potential medical applications.
Stenken’s microdialysis project is
part of Rensselaer’s focal effort to advance biotechnology
discoveries for the benefit of public health, the environment,
homeland security, bioterrorism, and for positive economic
development locally and globally.
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