Dr. William Federspiel

(Chemical Engineering, Surgery, and Bioengineering) Respiratory and cardiovascular fluid mechanics and mass transport, biotransport, pulmonary and cardiovascular medical technologies

Under the direction of Dr. William Federspiel, the Medical Devices Laboratory at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine is developing clinically significant devices for the treatment of pulmonary and cardiovascular ailments by utilizing engineering principles of fluid flow and mass transfer. The advancement of a novel percutaneous respiratory assist catheter (PRAC) composed of hollow fiber membranes is being tested for the treatment of acute and acute-on-chronic lung failure. The lab is also experimenting with medical devices utilizing membrane and particle based adsorption technologies for the removal of targeted solutes from whole blood in an ongoing effort to aid in the treatment of pathogenic reactions. This project, entitled SEPsIS (Systems Engineering of a Pheresis Intervention for Sepsis) involves an extracorporeal blood purification device that removes the inflammatory molecules which cause severe sepsis. The medical devices lab has begun the development of an Oxygen Depletion Device (ODD); a novel blood storage system that will extend the shelf life of additive system red cell units.