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Tissue Engineering could lead to better ways to heal injuries and develop new drugs
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In a large-scale project recently funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, several MIT faculty members are working on a “human-on-a-chip” system that scientists could use to study up to 10 human tissue types at a time. The goal is to create a customizable system of interconnected tissues, grown in small wells on a plate, allowing researchers to analyze how tissues respond to different drugs.
Another near-term goal for tissue engineers is developing regenerative therapies that help promote wound healing.
“Healthy cells sitting adjacent to diseased tissues can influence the biology of repair and regeneration,” says MIT professor Elazer Edelman, who has developed implantable scaffolds embedded with endothelial cells, which secrete a vast array of proteins that respond to injury.
Endothelial cells, normally found lining blood vessels, could help repair damage caused by angioplasty or other surgical interventions; smoke inhalation; and cancer or cardiovascular disease. The implants are now in clinical trials to treat blood-vessel injuries caused by the needles used to perform dialysis in patients with kidney failure. Better repair of those injuries could double the time that such patients can stay on dialysis, which is now limited to about three years, says Edelman, the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Health Sciences and Technology.
See more and subscribe to NextBigFuture at 2012-12-16 11:22:23 Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/12/tissue-engineering-ould-lead-to-better.html
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