Firstly, let us consider our hearts.
Our hearts have never complained of beating since we were
born. They are an incredible evolution of biology - a
miraculous muscular organ. How can something that complex be
artificially produced? Let us examine some recent and
historical advances as well as Life Science Project Manager
Roles related to the artificial heart.
The good news is that biology is getting a huge recent
tailwind with the backing of the 4th industrial revolution
powered by data points in biology, cloud computing, 3D
printing, and artificial intelligence. Scientists can
now produce synthetic protein in a lab environment and
computers can simulate protein structure before actual
chemical reaction based on the image / data points available
in the known protein structure present in the human heart.
Scientists can synthetically weave those proteins one after
another like Lego bricks and give it the shape and
functionality of a heart. This gives doctors and
scientists hope that protein in the heart muscle can be
artificially produced and a computer can stitch all these
protein images together to print an artificial heart with a
3D printer.
While an artificial heart produced with a 3D printer seems
possible, the question is whether it will be
sustainable? This is tough to answer but so were the
many questions surrounding the historical advances of the
artificial heart. Let us look at two of these
advances:
- Some of the first breakthroughs for the Artificial
Heart are attributed to Willem Johan Kolff,
William DeVries and
Robert Jarvik. Dr.
Kolff, a prolific inventor of artificial organs,
implanted an artificial heart into a dog at the
Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Kolff left the Cleveland Clinic
and joined the University of Utah to pursue development
of the artificial heart. According to
en-academic.com, “Over the years, more than 200
physicians, engineers, students and faculty developed,
tested and improved Dr. Kolff's artificial heart. To
help manage his many endeavors, Dr. Kolff assigned
Project Managers. Each project was named after its
Project Manager. Graduate student Robert Jarvik was
the Project Manager for the artificial heart,
which was subsequently renamed the Jarvik 7.” The
major milestone of the Jarvik-7 made scientists excited
about future possibilities.
- One of the most recent developments in artificial
hearts happened earlier this year, July 16, 2021, at
Duke University.
“A surgical team, led by Drs. Jacob Schroder and Carmelo
Milano, successfully implanted a new-generation
artificial heart in a 39-year-old man with heart
failure, becoming the first center in North America to
perform the procedure.” This new generation
artificial heart provides a lifeline and hope to
patients awaiting a heart transplant.
Finally, what are some ways we as life science Project
Managers or Engineers can help with the future advances of
the artificial heart? As Project Managers we are
uniquely positioned with our skills and expertise to engage
in interdisciplinary team of doctors, scientists and
regulators to help make projects in this area successful in
record time and within budgets. Here are just a few
specific examples:
- Help teams which create proteins with a lot of
research in the cloud that contains state of the art
image processing of structural biology so that they can
experiment in a more agile way to simulate heart
structure thus creating the best and powerful artificial
heart.
- Help research teams with paperwork and clinical trials
by leveraging our credible Project Management skills on
a multi-disciplinary team.
- Help ensure the research effort is GXP compliant thus
enabling products to safely reach more terminal patients
so they can see more beautiful days.
As we approach the 40th year since Mr. Barney Clark (a
dentist from Seattle) received the first artificial heart,
we pause and reflect on the advances made, as well as stand
in awe at the opportunities on the horizon; with Life
Science Project Managers continuing to play a role at “the
heart” of it all.
