The CaixaResearch Artificial Placenta project, which develops artificial placentas for premature babies and which has already obtained good results in sheep, is preparing to transfer it to humans. The objective is to artificially develop these organs that develop in the mother’s uterus for premature babies that allow the fetus to be kept outside the uterus in a similar environment and minimize the risk of sequelae. At the moment they have tested it on sheep with success.
“We have 14 days of survival in sheep and we are working on collaborations with the industry to improve the stability, standardization, reliability and reproducibility of the system to prepare for the transfer to humans,” Elisenda Bonet, the Scientific Manager of the project, explained to La Vanguardia. , who this week received the Círculo Ecuestre Joven Relevant 2024 Award. Telecommunications engineer, master in neuroscience, doctor in biomedicine, she has been in the project since 2019, funded by the La Caixa Foundation.
In a first trial with sheep, fetuses managed to survive twelve days in a container with amniotic fluid. At this moment they already have 14 days of survival, said Bonet, who is 39 years old and has been involved in a multidisciplinary project since 2019 that brings together more than 40 professionals and more than 30 collaborators, most of them Catalan.
So that they could develop correctly, the sheep’s umbilical cord has been connected to an oxygenation and nutrition system designed especially for this project. Less than a year ago, the forecast was to be able to start using this placenta in humans within a period of between three to five years, said the project leader and director of BCNatal, attached to the Clínic and Sant Joan de Déu hospitals, Eduard Gratacós.
And in parallel, the entire intellectual protection part is being worked on and “contacts with the relevant agencies are beginning as essential steps to transfer it, in the future, to humans,” detailed Elisenda Bonet, telecommunications engineer, master in neurosciences and doctor in biomedicine.
But to be able to be used in humans, it is necessary to improve the technology to help the most vulnerable premature babies.
The La Caixa foundation has contributed more than seven million euros to the CaixaResearch Artificial Placenta for the two phases of the project, which will last until 2027.