PD Dr. Stijn Vandenberghe (PhD) and Prof. Dr. med. Stefanos Demertzis, assisted by the valuable cooperation of Mrs Maria Montilla (grant manager),  received a competitive grant amounting to CHF 250’000 from InnoSuisse (formerly knowns as CTI).

Said contribution is directed towards the development of a “smart” device conceived for operating theatre use in order to prevent gas embolism during open heart surgery.

This project is part of a bundle of both clinical research carried out by the Department of Cardiac Surgery of Cardiocentro Ticino and the laboratory research of Gruppo Bioingegneria Cardiovascolare della Fondazione per la Ricerca e Formazione Cardiologica (FCRE)  focused on a better prevention of cerebral complications (strokes) during heart surgeries.

This funding allocation further strengthens the approach to both translational (bench to bedside) and multidimensional research (clinical and pre-clinical research) in a close and stimulating cooperation between engineers and heart surgeons.