Iranian Researchers Design, Develop Membrane to Shorten Dialysis Duration

“The long, expensive and unpleasant process of hemodialysis for patients with kidney failure was the reason for implementing the project,” Aryan Ekhlasi, a graduate of Amirkabir University of Technology and the project manager of ‘preparation and characterization of polyacrylonitrile-based composite nanofiber membrane to remove uremic toxins’ said while underlining the importance of the scientific project done by he and his teammates to design and develop a new hemodialysis membrane to decrease dialysis duration for the patients with kidney failure.

“The innovation which is used in the project is unique and there has not been domestic or foreign project utilizing similar innovation,” he added.

It should be mentioned that Hemodialysis is a procedure where a dialysis machine and a special filter called an artificial kidney, or a dialyzer, are used to clean the patient's blood.

“Since the common commercial hemodialysis membranes are based only on two old phenomena, including diffusion and convection, we implemented the project at Amirkabir University of Technology to shorten duration of hemodialysis process and also upgrading the efficiency of the hemodialysis process via taking advantage of adsorption phenomenon,” he added.

According to Ekhlasi, the results of the project completely correspond to the predetermined goals and can play a significant role in improving the hemodialysis process and the frontiers of knowledge in the field of dialysis.

He further elaborated on the process of developing the membranes, and said, “Firstly, we prepared a pure nanofiber membrane based on polyacrylonitrile polymer by electro spinning process and then we dispersed halloysite nano adsorbents on the nanofibers in the membrane. Finally, we evaluated the final composite nanofiber membrane by characterization tests.”

Ekhlasi concluded that the final result of the plan can be utilized directly in healthcare industry and indirectly in water purification and treatment plants.

Iranian scientists have made great achievements in the past few years in various sciences, including medical science.

Iranian Deputy Science, Research and Technology Minister Gholam Hossein Rahimi Sherbaf said last year that the country stood atop the regional states in scientific progress and development.

“Iran has ascended from the 5th rank to 1st in scientific progress in the region and from 58th to 16th in nanotechnology and from 52nd to 17th in biochemistry and bimolecular sciences in the world,” Rahimi Sherbaf said.

He also said that over 30,000 foreign students are studying at Iranian universities in MSC and MA courses, most of them from neighboring states.

“We rank first among the regional states in the development of science and technology as a pioneering country,” Rahimi Sherbaf said.

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