This document outlines 3 approaches to building an artificial kidney: 1) A wearable artificial kidney called a "Kidney-on-a-Belt" that filters blood through a small dialyzer while allowing mobility, 2) A "Cyborg Kidney" the size of a coffee cup containing living kidney cells in a bioreactor to perform metabolic functions, and 3) A "Dark Horse Kidney" in development using ultrathin silicon membranes for continuous nano-filtration and drainage into the bladder to free patients from dialysis machines forever.

1. 3 Ways to Build an Artificial Kidney.
Abdul Aziz
Roll: 1207001
Dept. of CSE

2. Outlines
The goals of Artificial Kidney
Motivation
Ways to Build an Artificial Kidney
1. Kidney-on-a-Belt
2. The Cyborg Kidney
3. The Dark Horse Kidney
Summary
References
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3. The goals of Artificial Kidney
Giving people with kidney failure an escape from today’s dialysis routine.
Because dialysis keeps people alive, but it’s also pretty terrible.
To free patients from dialysis machines forever.
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4. Motivation
A typical patient goes to a clinic three times each week to be hooked up to
a dialysis machine and
lies there for three or four hours while blood cycles out of the body,
through the machine, and back in again.
The machine does the job that the kidneys can no longer do, filtering out
toxic waste products and
maintaining the balance of electrolytes, and removing excess water.
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5. Motivation(cont’d)
Losing time and mobility is a major downside of today’s dialysis process.
Also, most patients have to carefully restrict their diet and fluid intake,
and often experience extreme fatigue after treatment and
 other side effects including low blood pressure, nausea, and muscle
cramps.
So what’s the alternative?
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6. Ways to Build an Artificial Kidney
There are 3 different ways I will discuss.
1. KIDNEY-ON-A-BELT.
2. THE CYBORG KIDNEY.
3. THE DARK HORSE KIDNEY.
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7. 1. Kidney-on-a-Belt
 Wearable Artificial Kidney(WAK).
 On the WAK belt, which weighs 5 kilograms.
 Small two-channel pump propels the patient’s blood
and
 The dialysate through separate tubes into a small
dialyzer, where the standard filtering process occurs.
 WAK can improve quality of life for dialysis patients.
 Patient can walk around during treatment, eat and
drink whatever they wanted, and sleep.
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Kidney-on-a-Belt

8. Limitations of WAK
 The researchers encountered kinked tubes, an erratic pump, and batteries and
absorbent cartridges that needed replacing.
 Carbon dioxide bubbles in the dialysate circuit, and gas bubbles can be deadly if
they reach the heart or brain.
 The WAK included both gas bubble alarms and degassing vents.
 But the incidents made it clear that the device needs a redesign to reduce the
production of gas and improve its venting.
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9. 2. The Cyborg Kidney
The bioartificial kidney, which is about the size of a coffee cup.
Contains two main components.
 A filtering unit that uses a silicon membrane with nanopores to
from the blood and
An innovative bioreactor unit that holds living kidney cells inside.
The bioreactor performs the various metabolic and endocrine roles
of a functioning kidney.
Haven’t yet tested an entire prototype, but trials of the individual
units have yielded promising results.
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The Cyborg Kidney

10. 3. The Dark Horse Kidney
Currently being nurtured at IndieBio, a San Francisco accelerator for
biotech companies.
 Uses a nano-filtration system to mimic the organ’s function, and drains
waste products into the bladder.
Make ultrathin membranes out of crystalline silicon that would serve as
the filter between the blood and the dialysate.
Researcheres say that the device will continuously filter the patient’s
blood for years without requiring maintenance or cleaning. 1 February 2017 10
The Dark Horse
Kidney

11. Summary
Three research groups taking very different approaches to building an
artificial kidney all have the same goal or job.
 If the devices can do that job, researchers can achieve their goal: “The
idea is to free patients from dialysis machines forever,” they say.
Then it will be very helpful for human in all aspects of lifes.
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12. References
1. Eliza Stickland, “3 Ways To Build An Artificial Kidney”
http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/3-ways-to-build-an-artificial-kidney
2. Victor Gura, Matthew B. Rivara, Scott Bieber, Raj Munshi, Nancy Colobong Smith, Lori Linke,
John Kundzins, Masoud Beizai, Carlos Ezon, Larry Kessler, and Jonathan Himmelfarb “A
Wearable Artificial Kidney For Patients With End Stage Renal Disease”
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13. Thank You.
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14. Any Question
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