# Wirelessly Actuated Ciliary Stent for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Cilia Dysfunction

> **NIH NIH R21** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $228,839

## Abstract

Project Summary
The objective of this proposal is to create a novel ciliary stent integrated with wirelessly actuated artificial
cilia for treating cilia dysfunction in various diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Significance: This work is motivated by the prevalence of Central Airway Obstruction (CAO) due to various lung
diseases especially COPD where 53% of the patients developing airway collapse and resulting in excessive
mucus accumulation even with an implanted airway stents. Our objective in this proposal is to create a novel
airway stent that provides the radical support in airway collapse, does not have the issue of tissue in-growth, and
provide the function of transporting mucus with artificial cilia. This approach is clinically innovative because it will
potentially overcome the limitation of existing airway stents by reducing the frequency of bronchoscope operations
and blind suction of conventional silicone airway stents, and reducing the risk of open-surgery due to tissue ingrowth
of conventional metal airway stents. Innovation: Technical innovation comes from 1) a novel artificial
cilia blanket design and fabrication which can transport mucus efficient by mimicking the non-reciprocal motion
and metachronal coordination of biological cilia, and 2) a novel magnetic actuation and control system which can
wirelessly actuate the artificial cilia safely with minimal invasion. Magnetically actuated cilia have been reported
for transporting liquids in microfluidics but has not been designed and integrated on airway stents for treatment
of COPD. Approach: This proposal proposes to create our airway stents with artificial cilia through three specific
aims. Aim 1 involves the design of the magnetically actuated artificial cilia, the integration of the artificial cilia on
existing meshed airway stents, and the magnetic actuation systems. Aim 2 focuses on validation experiments
including experiments of the airway stents with artificial cilia in phantoms, ex vivo tissues, and porcine lungs to
evaluate the mucus pumping performance and overall system functionality. These Aims will be carried out by
a multidisciplinary team of investigators combining expertise in lung surgery, mechanical design and control of
airway stents, and design and control of the stent delivery and remove tools using a flexible bronchoscope. The
goal of this R21 project will be the demonstration of accurate spatial deployment, efficient mucus transporting,
and an-trauma removal of the stent to enhance the treatment of COPD. We hypothesize this R21 project will bring
a potentially curative treatment for COPD to many more patients. Broad impact includes paving the way for an
innovative medical device with minimal invasion, long-term, and out-of-hospital treatment of cilia impairment due
to multiple diseases in multiple organs in the human body. Further research will be initiated on translating the stent
mechanism for various lung diseases such as Cys...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10989417
- **Project number:** 1R21EB035200-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Xiaoguang Dong
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $228,839
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2027-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10989417

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10989417, Wirelessly Actuated Ciliary Stent for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Cilia Dysfunction (1R21EB035200-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10989417. Licensed CC0.

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