A collaborative team led by Piran Kidambiassistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; William Fissellassociate professor of nephrology and hypertension at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Shubho Royprofessor of bioengineering at the University of California, San Francisco; Francesco FornasieroLawrence Livermore National Laboratory Biological Sciences and Biotechnology staff scientists have developed a new type of filter for kidney dialysis machines that can clean blood more efficiently and improve patient care.
chronic kidney diseaseThe condition, in which kidney damage reduces blood filtration, affects approximately 697.5 million people, or 9% of the world’s population. Treatments include hemofiltration, hemodialysis, or kidney transplantation. Hemofiltration and hemodialysis support the kidneys by filtering toxins and waste from the blood.
The new filter uses carbon nanotubes (tiny tubes formed by sheets of carbon atoms bonded into a hexagonal honeycomb mesh structure) with very small, smooth channels. These channels allow toxins and waste products to be easily removed from the blood without escaping important proteins that can be problematic with traditional filters.
In the article:High-performance blood filtration using molecular sieves and ultra-low friction of carbon nanotube capillary membranes” was published. Advanced functional materials On August 27, Kidambi and his co-authors demonstrated that a dialysis membrane composed of carbon nanotubes and polymers creates a new paradigm for dialysis.
“Our membrane outperforms state-of-the-art dialysis membranes by more than an order of magnitude, while enhancing the removal of middle molecules that can cause toxicity and other health complications,” Kidambi said. “By precisely controlling the diameter of the carbon nanotubes, we were able to not only enhance and effectively remove medium molecules, but also find that the linear channel shape and slippery walls of the nanotubes significantly enhanced the flow. We have shown that it will be done.”
The study also provided fundamental insights into how biomolecules are transported within nanoscale constrictions. Like an octopus that can contort and expand itself to fit into the smallest space, Kidami and his co-authors found that biomolecules can squeeze into the entrance of a nanotube in a membrane, move through it, and emerge on the other side. Found it expanding again. This knowledge will help researchers and engineers design membranes for biological separations beyond dialysis.
Using better membranes in dialysis will benefit patient care. Kidambi and his colleagues plan to evaluate long-term operability, blood compatibility, and other questions about the filter in order to develop it for patient care. They aim to further develop this technology with the advances the Kidambi Institute has made with graphene.
“Our goal is to be able to provide smaller dialysis kits to patients instead of coming into the hospital and being strapped to a dialysis machine for four hours three times a week,” said Dr. said one Peif Chen. Kidambi lab and first author of this paper. “It will significantly improve the quality of life for patients. Our long-term goal is to move to implantable devices.”
This research was supported by Vanderbilt University faculty start-up funds and Kidambi’s NSF CAREER award. Portions of this research were conducted at the Molecular Foundry with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Basic Energy Sciences.
