In addition to Desai, who is the contact-PI, the team includes Muralidhar Padala, an assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Emory, and a Coulter Department faculty member; and Baowei Fei, formerly of Emory, now at the University of Texas-Dallas.

The title of their project supported by the $3-million, four-year grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) of NIH is, “Image-guided Intravascular Robotic System for Mitral Valve Repair and Implants.” Desai’s role in the research, essentially, is to develop an articulated intravascular steerable robotic system which will safely deliver an implant (developed at Emory) to the mitral valve leaflets under image-guidance, to repair mitral regurgitation.

“This work involves several pieces,” Desai said. “There is the design of the implant, intravascular robotics, and the imaging piece, which helps the clinician to guide the robot and understand where and how to move and where to place the implant. So, this is a true collaborative effort.”

News Contact Info: 

Jerry Grillo
Communications Officer II
Parker H. Petit Institute for
Bioengineering and Bioscience