# Hemoadsorption Device for Selective Removal of Cell-Free Plasma Hemoglobin During Extracorporeal Therapies.

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2022 · $217,496

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Extracorporeal therapies (ECT) including cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO) have been refined over the years, yet unfavorable outcomes such as acute kidney injury
(AKI) continue to occur and are associated with mortality and prolonged intensive care unit and hospital length
of stay. Increased cell-free plasma hemoglobin (PHb) from hemolysis during CPB and ECMO has been
identified as playing a central role in such dysfunction and is thus an obvious clinical target. Despite this, there
are no clinically available therapies for the selective removal of PHb during ECT. The focus of this proposal is to
develop a novel extracorporeal hemoadsorption device to serve as an easily implementable therapy to
selectively remove PHb during ECT. The hemoadsorption device will use a bead-based matrix containing
immobilized haptoglobin (Hp), a native protein with high-affinity binding for PHb, to selectively remove PHb
from whole blood flow.
 Preliminary work has been conducted to establish the foundational feasibility of the proposed approach.
This includes the development of methods to produce Hp-modified beads, confirmation of the ability of these
beads to bind PHb, demonstration of the ability of a bead-based column to accommodate whole blood flow,
and model-based evidence of the ability for clinically reasonable device flow rates to achieve therapeutic PHb
removal. In addition, we have established a rat model of ECT-induced AKI to be used during in vivo
assessment of the proposed approach.
 The two proposed Aims will (i) fabricate functional, scaled-down prototypes and characterize PHb binding
kinetics during benchtop studies in whole blood flow and (ii) use a rat model to evaluate the feasibility of device
implementation during ECT and its ability to prevent ECT-induced renal injury. Thus, the proposed work
involves elements of design and fabrication of extracorporeal blood-contacting devices, porous media fluid
dynamics, blood-based mass transfer, hemocompatibility, kidney injury, hemolysis-associated pathology, and
clinical implementation of ECT.
 The research team, led by principal investigators Nahmah Kim-Campbell, MD, MS and William
Federspiel, PhD, possesses the unique engineering and clinical expertise necessary to pursue this highly
multidisciplinary research. Combined with the rich research environment and resources of the University of
Pittsburgh and the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, this team is well positioned to successfully
develop this mechanistically-supported approach to improve adverse outcomes in ECT.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10527451
- **Project number:** 1R21HL161527-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** William J. Federspiel
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $217,496
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-02 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10527451

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10527451, Hemoadsorption Device for Selective Removal of Cell-Free Plasma Hemoglobin During Extracorporeal Therapies. (1R21HL161527-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10527451. Licensed CC0.

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