Johns Hopkins Medicine has been awarded more than $18 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a multi-institutional effort to develop a novel extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and advanced life-support system device. ECMO devices assist patients by enabling heart and lung function when their organs are too damaged or weak to function normally.

The two-and-a-half-year endeavor seeks to create a new type of ECMO device and system capable of rapid deployment to support wounded military personnel.

“There are two major pieces to this project,” says project leader Steve Keller, M.D., Ph.D., M.Phil., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “One is our desire to advance the care of the critically ill patient, especially those suffering from respiratory failure, shock or active hemorrhage who need a great deal of hands-on clinical expertise and care. Second is the need to better the care for patients with organ failure using transformative technologies.”

The team, co-led by Sung-Min Cho, D.O., M.H.S., plans to research and create a durable, portable device that expands upon existing ECMO functionalities for the purpose of stabilizing military personnel who need lifesaving care but are unable to be immediately transported to medical facilities. Traditional ECMO systems cannot be easily deployed outside of clinical settings and require vast clinical resources. ECMO is increasingly relied on to support patients with respiratory failure, often for prolonged periods, to deliver oxygen to tissues while eliminating carbon dioxide from the blood.

The research team’s device will not only carry out existing ECMO capabilities, but will also have new features, including a smart system capable of detecting, interpreting and automatically adjusting its level of support based on biological feedback from a patient using the machine. The device will also have the ability to provide resuscitation, as well as have improved catheters, making it easier to access a patient’s vascular system for ECMO use.

Keller and Cho add that these devices also have immense potential for civilian use and could transform the treatment landscape for lung injuries and trauma care. They say that the addition of these novel features to existing ECMO systems will expand use of this technology and improve clinical care.

“Our program will work to develop and expand upon ECMO engineering to make [ECMO] convenient or easier to use, especially in the field,” says Cho, associate professor of neurology, surgery, anesthesia and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We’re incredibly grateful and humbled to collaborate with our colleagues to research ways to make an innovative ECMO system, helping patients around the world and improving critical care medicine.”

“We’re at a crucial inflection point in the development of new technologies to support critically ill patients, and that’s really what the project is about,” says Keller. “Being awarded this project affirms that Hopkins is at the forefront of critical care medicine and will deepen our collaborations with other leaders in the field of extracorporeal support. We envision this work as providing a foundation on which to further innovate and define the future of advanced mechanical support.”

Researchers will use portions of the funding for laboratory expansions at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where they plan to develop and construct prototypes of their portable life support device in collaboration with multiple teams at various institutions.