Greg Burgreen, an associate research professor at the MSU SimCenter, is using his knowledge of computers and fluid dynamics to help design a heart pump for infants.
“The problem with heart pumps for children is that they need to be smaller to work,” Burgreen said.
Jarvik Heart Inc., with help from the University of Maryland, has set out to make a pump for children that will be the size of a AA battery, Burgreen said. Typical heart pumps are the size of D batteries. The heart pump “augments the weakened heart’s blood output to help restore a normal blood flow throughout the body.”
Burgreen’s duties include analyzing the project and using computational fluid dynamics to find improvements, he said. He received a $100,000 subcontract from Jarvik to do the research.
“I use computer software to test the devices mainly looking at how the blood flows through it,” he said. “Engineering has its setbacks, though. We are trying to fix something that was made perfect.”
Burgreen has worked in blood pump research for 10 years. During that time he worked on projects at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah.
Other researchers working with the Jarvik project have been working on the artificial pump for several years, while Burgreen has been working on it for more than a year, he said.
“With my computer software, I can make suggestions of what can be changed to make the device better,” he said.
He initially became interested in computational fluid dynamics as an undergraduate student at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. After receiving his master’s degree, he attended Old Dominion University where he received his doctorate.
“I originally came to MSU to visit James C. Newman III, a colleague of mine, in 2002. I decided to come to the SimCenter because it is internationally known for its work,” Burgreen said. “I believe I brought expertise to a staff of experts.”
Burgreen said he plans to create next-generation computational fluid dynamics software for the future. He also wants to expand his research areas into automotives and aircrafts.
Jarvik Heart Inc. is a private company that develops miniaturized heart assist devices for the treatment of severe heart failure.