Although major achievements, some disadvantages still exist for LVADs (infections, bleeding, coagulation, neurological complications and discomfort) that limit their long-term use. The REPAIR idea to solve these clinical challenges is to exploit smart materials to support or restore cardiac mechanical function. Ideally materials should be able to modulate their strength kinetics and stiffness to fit the features of striated muscles. So far, many attempts to create materials or devices have failed to reproduce natural muscle function and regulation. Among smart materials, liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are able to respond to external stimuli in a reversible manner to generate movement or tension. This unique behavior relies on a combination of the main features of liquid crystals with those of elastomers.

LCEs conserve the orientational order and sensitivity to different external stimuli (temperature, pH, light and electric or magnetic fields) from the former and elasticity and resilience to mechanical stresses from the latter. However, even if LCEs are commonly called artificial muscles, their application in biology is still limited to a few examples.

Within the REPAIR project, SPECIFIC POLYMERS is working on the custom design of functional liquid crystalline elastomers. The chemical nature of targeted LCEs will be optimized in relation to biocompatibility, elasticity, thermal and optical properties’ stimuli responsiveness and force generation. Once the most effective LCEs has been identified, we will work on the synthesis process optimization in order to scale up their synthesis to one kilogram within the project.

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