Researchers have developed a promising synthetic heart valve that may eventually be used for growing children. Harvard’s Wass Institute and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) created what they call FibraValve. This implant can be manufactured in minutes using a spun-fiber method that lets them shape the valve’s delicate flaps on a microscopic level — ready to be colonized by the patient’s living cells, developing with them as they mature.FibraValve is a follow-up to JetValve, the team’s 2017 artificial heart valve that employed many of the same principles. The updated version uses “focused rotary jet spinning,” which adds streams of focused air to more quickly and accurately collect synthetic fibers on a spinning mandrel — making it easier to fine-tune the valve’s shape. As a result, the polymer’s micro- and nano-fibers can more precisely replicate the tissue structure of an organic heart valve. The manufacturing proces
