Elastic & Strong: Elastin-Textile Biohybrid Solutions for (Pediatric) Cardiovascular Implants

Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/11/2025
9:30 am - 10:30 am

Categories

• Seminars

Selina Sonntag, Senior PhD Candidate

Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex) at RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Cardiovascular implants such as vascular grafts or valves are
essential in treating congenital and acquired heart diseases,
yet the long-term performance of current clinically available
devices remains limited. Many implants ultimately fail due to
mismatched mechanical properties with native tissue or poor
biological integration, leading to complications such as
thrombosis, calcification, or structural degradation.
In our group, we develop novel biohybrid implants that
combine the structural stability and design flexibility of
textiles with the biological functionality and compatibility of
protein-engineered elastin. As an example, I will highlight
how miniaturized valve constructs for pediatric patients can
particularly benefit from this synergistic material approach,
illustrating the potential of elastin-textile biohybrids to
advance the next generation of cardiovascular implants.

Speaker bio:

Selina Sonntag is a PhD student in the Department
of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex) at RWTH
Aachen University, Germany. She completed her
MSc in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology at
Imperial College London, UK. At BioTex, the
Biomaterials team, led by Dr. Alicia Fernández-
Colino, investigates biohybrid implants for in situ
tissue engineering applications. Their
interdisciplinary research combines biology-derived
materials, such as elastin-like recombinamers and
silk fibroin, with advanced textile techniques to
develop functional and biocompatible medical
devices.

Rescheduled to Monday Nov 3rd at 9:30am

In-Person: JHE A-114
Online:
https://mcmaster.zoom.us/j/99384430576