Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) received a $759,243 Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), effective June 1, 2026, with completion scheduled for February 28, 2030. The grant funds the development of novel personalized computational flow models to assess high-fidelity hemodynamics of the fetal aorta and improve prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta (COA), a congenital heart defect affecting 6-8% of live births with congenital heart disease. The research addresses limitations in contemporary prenatal imaging techniques that result in frequent false positive and false negative diagnoses.

The deliverables include: (1) development of a personalized computational flow model of the fetal aorta validated against in vivo measurements using clinically routine imaging; (2) creation of an in vitro flow model for validation of novel hemodynamic flow metrics; and (3) evaluation of novel flow metrics—including wall shear stress measurements—to improve COA diagnosis in fetuses. The project leverages an existing cohort of 500 fetal cases (250 normal aortas and 250 with COA) from the Fetal Heart Society to develop and test these modeling approaches, offering a cost-effective alternative to enhance diagnostic accuracy for this critical perinatal condition.