# Human-scale microfluidic artificial lung

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $603,311

## Abstract

The long-term goal of this technology development project is to improve rehabilitation from lung disease
through the development of the first truly portable, biocompatible, artificial lung capable of short and long term
respiratory support. Current artificial lungs have recently been used to rehabilitate lung disease patients;
however, significant advances in gas exchange, biocompatibility, and portability are required to fully realize
their potential. Microfluidic artificial lungs promise to enable a new class of truly portable artificial lungs through
feature sizes and blood channel designs that closely mimic those found in their natural counterpart. The
objectives of the current R01 proposal, which seeks to propel our microfluidic artificial lung toward initial human
applications, are to: 1) develop a roll-to-roll manufacturing system capable of producing the first human-scale
microfluidic artificial lungs; 2) optimize the performance and biocompatibility of human-scale microfluidic
artificial lungs; and, 3) test a human-scale microfluidic artificial lung in acute and chronic animal studies. These
objectives are critical to advancing this promising technology toward initial acute systems for pulmonary
rehabilitation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10113666
- **Project number:** 5R01HL144660-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Joseph Allen Potkay
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $603,311
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-15 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10113666

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10113666, Human-scale microfluidic artificial lung (5R01HL144660-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10113666. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*