Scientists in the US were able to overcome a major obstacle in creating mini-organs. They were able to program cells to take on the desired shape instead of relying on 3D printing or external “scaffolds.”
Described in a paper in the journal Cell Systems as an “inside-out” approach, this method could “signal a paradigm shift” in how mini-organs like mini-kidneys and brains are grown on the lab bench. This could one day lead to personalized organ transplants.
The team, led by bioengineer Todd McDevitt at Gladstone Institutes in the US, was driven by an enduring issue with state-of-the-art ways of producing mini-organs such as 3D printing. The cells just won’t stay put.
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McDevitt’s team wanted to own those cellular minds and so took control of two genes that together make up something of a joystick that directs how the cells organise.
More details about this over at Cosmos.
What are your thoughts about this one?
(Image Credit: Ashley Libby, David Joy, and Iman Haghighi, Gladstone Institutes)