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This technology includes a device and method for maintaining access to a location in the body while reducing or eliminating the potential for pulling an access device (i.e., catheter) back through an opening, such as a cardiac procedure. An introducer sheath includes a distal indented portion and a balloon, so that once placed in a desired location through tissue, the balloon can be inflated to anchor the sheath against retraction.

This technology includes a vaccine for lowering plasma triglycerides by inducing the formation of autoantibodies against either ANGPTL3 or ANGPTL4, which are inhibitors of Lipoprotein Lipase. This was done by conjugating synthetic peptides based on ANGPTL3 or ANGPTL4 to virus- like particles (VLPS). Injection of the vaccine in animal models was shown to induce the autoantibody against the target and to lower plasma triglycerides.

This technology includes structures and methods for cinching a band around the heart for treating conditions including tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR). When positioned appropriately along the atrioventricular groove, the band is tightened around the heart which narrows the tricuspid annulus and relieves TR.

This technology includes a family of transcatheter endovenous intramyocardial tether (MIRTH) procedures to impose myocardial constraint on the LV (MIRTH), LV and RV (SCIMITAR), and cardiac resynchronization procedures. Included is a set of advanced cardiac treatment technologies that focus on minimally invasive procedures for heart patients. The main technology is the transcatheter endovenous intramyocardial tether (MIRTH) procedure, which is designed to apply physical constraint to the left ventricle (LV) of the heart.

This technology includes a novel transcatheter repair for functional mitral valve regurgitation, called mitral cerclage annuloplasty. This includes coronary artery protection for mitral cerclage annuloplasty against inside-out compression from subsequent transcatheter valve-in-ring mitral valve implantation, wherein the ring is created by the cerclage annuloplasty. Cerclage annuloplasty is to create a semi-rigid ring at the level of the mitral annulus.

This technology includes a metallic guidewire that is suitable for MRI catheterization, because it is mechanically long but electrically consists of short conductive segments that cannot resonate during MRI. The invention consists of stiffness-matched non-conductive connectors or connections that are used along with short metallic segments. The embodiment reduced to practice has torquability and flexibility comparable to marketed metallic guidewires, yet is free from MRI heating.

This technology includes a catheter design to be used for cardiovascular procedures. This catheter has intrinsic freedom from MRI heating by segmenting and insulating the braiding material, yet that retains most of the mechanical properties of a braided catheter aligning the segment interruptions out-of-phase with each other.

Many biological and clinical procedures require functional validation of a desired cell type. Current techniques to validate rely on various assays and methods, such as staining with dyes, antibodies, and nucleic acid probes, to assess stem cell health, death, proliferation, and functionality. These techniques potentially destroy stem cells and risk contaminating cells and cultures by exposing them to the environment; they are low-throughput and difficult to scale-up.

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have discovered an invention describing a composition and method(s) of using such composition for preserving viability of cells, tissues, or organs at a low temperature (around 4ºC). Current cold storage solutions or methods for cells, tissues, and organs are suboptimal due to irreversible damage to cold-sensitive tissue or organ transplants that need a longer term of storage for facilitating clinical practices.