Creating Better Heart Valves Using Silk

Professor Jelena Rnjak Kovacina, University of New South Wales

Future Leader Fellowship

Years funded: 2026 - 2030

Aortic stenosis is a serious heart condition where the aortic valve narrows, blocking blood flow from the heart, leading to heart failure and sudden death. It affects 12.4% of older adults, and with an aging population, this number is expected to double by 2050. If left untreated, two-thirds of patients with severe aortic stenosis will die within three years.

The main treatment is to replace the damaged valve with one made from chemically treated animal tissue (bioprosthetic valve), a flawed option that has remained unchanged for some 50 years. These bioprosthetic valves carry early risks of blood clotting and fail within 7-10 years due to the body's reaction to the foreign material, valve degradation, and calcium buildup. Moreover, the chemical treatment prevents the valve from integrating with the body, leading to early failure. This highlights the urgent need for new, long-lasting valve replacement options.

This project aims to solve this problem by developing the first silk material-based bioprosthetic valves. Silk is nature’s toughest material that can be engineered to mimic the intricate and complex structure and mechanical properties of natural valves, which are essential for their function, and which are not captured by the current bioprosthetic valves. Silk is also known to support the growth of the body's own tissues, providing a pathway to a permanent solution.

With 15 years of experience in engineering silk materials, my team and I have the multidisciplinary expertise required to engineer silk into biomimetic materials for a new generation of heart valves. My collaborators include cardiologists, biomechanical engineers, and industry partners, ensuring the long-term success of this project. We have the resources and institutional support to successfully complete this project and in the long-term bring our innovation to patients. Through a $1M grant from NSW Health I have recently established a first-in-country valve prototyping and testing facility in the newly built Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct, which will ensure that the newly developed valves can be tested to international standards.

With the growing number of aortic stenosis cases and the trend toward earlier treatment, there is a critical need for durable valve replacements. Our silk-based valves promise a long-term solution by promoting the growth of natural tissue, potentially transforming the treatment of heart valve disease.