1st April 2026
The REBORN project has recently reached an important milestone with the launch of its first in vivo testing activities in Porto, Portugal.
During a two-week visit, Giorgia Montalbano (Politecnico di Torino) joined the research teams at the Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) to support and observe the initial testing phase of the project’s cardiac patch prototypes.
The activities included early-stage implantation tests on small animal models, where both Prototype 1 and Prototype 2 of the REBORN patch were evaluated. These experiments were carried out in collaboration with Diana Nascimento and Elsa Silva, contributing to the assessment of the patch’s performance in controlled in vivo conditions.
Additional tests were conducted at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), involving larger animal models. In this context, Prototype 2 was applied to enable subsequent biopsy analyses, with the aim of studying drug release and distribution within cardiac tissue. These activities were carried out together with Pedro Ferreira, Liliana Moreira Costa, and Rui Cerqueira.
The visit also provided the opportunity to observe a cardiac surgery procedure in a clinical setting. This experience offered valuable insights into potential future applications of the REBORN patch and helped contextualise its role within real-world treatment scenarios for patients recovering from myocardial infarction.
These first in vivo activities represent a crucial step forward in the validation of REBORN technologies, bringing the project closer to its long-term goal of developing innovative solutions for cardiac tissue regeneration.
