Strathclyde Approach Towards Artificial Kidney, Artificial Liver and Detoxification

The Bioengineering Unit at the University of Strathclyde has been engaged in research relating to the use of adsorbents in medicine since 1972. The decision to undertake research in this area was influenced by the work of Chang on artificial cells (Chang, 1972) and a Unit involvement in the development of synthetic polymer membranes for haemodialysis (Courtney, 1969; Muir et al, I97I, 1973). The initial effort concerned activated carbon granules and was directed towards the selection of a suitable grade of carbon, development of a method of coating the granules with polymer and the design of a polymer coating.