Episode 6: Hemodialysis and the Birth of Artificial Organs

What role do materials play in artificial organs? Are there materials that body simply won't accept? In this episode we talk about the birth of artificial organs as we describe the history of hemodialysis which is critical for treating chronic kidney disease. We introduce materials science fundamentals associated with mass transport across semi-permeable membranes such as Ficks First Law. We then tell the story of Willem Kolff and others who pioneered the invention of hemodialysis and describe the role that materials played in that process then as well as now.

Referenced Articles:

• Overview on membranes
• Bowry, S. K. "Dialysis membranes today."
• "Reverse epidemiology of cardiovascular risk factors in maintenance dialysis patients."
• Impact of protein energy wasting: Bonanni et al. 2011
• Protein loss vs flux of treatment: Gil et al. 2007
• Altering fluid transport to retain proteins: Meyer et al. 2004 Am. Soc. Neph.
• Personal account of doctor turned patient: Laird et al. 2011 Am J Kidney Dis. 2011
• Protein replacement treatment effectiveness: Hynote et al. 1995 J Parenter Enteral Nutr.
• Membrane adsorption of proteins: Ishikawa et al. 2006 Am J Nephrol.
• Current PVC tubing used in dialyzers: Chawla et al. 1991

Image taken from Wikimedia Commons with filters applied in Adobe Illustrator.

Thanks to Kolobyte and Alphabot for letting us use their music in the show!

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Materialism Team: Taylor Sparks (co-host, co-creator), Andrew Falkowski (co-host, co-creator), Jared Duffy production, marketing, and editing), Ramsey Issa (editing assistance).

Keywords: polymers biomedical bio diffusion filter biocompatibility

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