Synthetic Windpipe: World's First, Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough

[Ryan_m_b]

World's first synthetic total windpipe, some fantastic work in the field of regenerative medicine! The synthetic windpipe was grown using a polymeric scaffold and the patients own cells.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14072829

I don't mean to brag, but this is my department's work (though unfortunately, I wasn't involved in this project)

 

[Dadface]

Well I think you should brag.You are a member of a department doing brilliant work.Well done to all.

 

[Proton Soup]

so how much of the resultant structural strength is the polymer, vs. any supposed cartilage? does the polymer ever dissolve and leave you with nothing but cartilage?

also, that artery... is the result just a pipe, or will it have the ability to adjust flow rate?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

so how much of the resultant structural strength is the polymer, vs. any supposed cartilage? does the polymer ever dissolve and leave you with nothing but cartilage?

also, that artery... is the result just a pipe, or will it have the ability to adjust flow rate?

This http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17440337" .

 

[Evo]

Incredible stuff Ryan!

 

[docwithabox]

Yes, very cool. I just read the article in Discover magazine about intestinal transplantation into dog aortas, which did well without antirejection meds. very cool stuff. These are exactly the types of things that will extend lifespan and enhance everyday living. Nice work.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Yes, very cool. I just read the article in Discover magazine about intestinal transplantation into dog aortas, which did well without antirejection meds. very cool stuff. These are exactly the types of things that will extend lifespan and enhance everyday living. Nice work.

Interesting, ideally we won't need to rely on allographs or immunosuppressants (which don't have a great patency, don't necessarily last too long and diminish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life" and health). With regenerative medicines we hope to grow tissues and eventually complex organs from the patients own cells, therefore no immunogenicity issues.

 

[Evo]

Does using the synthetic trachea have a lot of benefits over the donated tracheas infused with the patient's stem cells? Obviously, availibility would be one benefit.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/23/first-child-receives-organ-transplant-created-with-stem-cells/

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Does using the synthetic trachea have a lot of benefits over the donated tracheas infused with the patient's stem cells? Obviously, availibility would be one benefit.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/23/first-child-receives-organ-transplant-created-with-stem-cells/

Funnily enough this is also a project that my department was involved in! Here's the http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1003/10031903" . You hit the nail on the head with the benefit, the polymer used for the synthetic scaffold is very cheap and it takes only days to make a polymer in the desired shape. There is also a slim chance that decelluarised scaffolds from cadavers will still have immunogenicity issues from antigens that aren't removed.

However the advantage of using a natural collagen scaffold is that it brings all the advantages that biology brings such as appropriate extra-cellular matrix factors and the ability to be remodelled and repaired by the body. The hope is that we can move on from the polymer we have now and either modify it or make a new one that can dissolve in the body over time and encourage natural scaffold growth in it's place.

 

[Evo]

Funnily enough this is also a project that my department was involved in! Here's the http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1003/10031903" . You hit the nail on the head with the benefit, the polymer used for the synthetic scaffold is very cheap and it takes only days to make a polymer in the desired shape. There is also a slim chance that decelluarised scaffolds from cadavers will still have immunogenicity issues from antigens that aren't removed.

However the advantage of using a natural collagen scaffold is that it brings all the advantages that biology brings such as appropriate extra-cellular matrix factors and the ability to be remodelled and repaired by the body. The hope is that we can move on from the polymer we have now and either modify it or make a new one that can dissolve in the body over time and encourage natural scaffold growth in it's place.

I thought that was your University.

It is just amazing what is being done in this field. I watched that documentary on organ scaffolding and was blown away when I saw the things they could do. I started a thread about it here. If I could start over again, this is the field that I'd love to go into.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=467772

I'm so happy that you're here with your knowledge on this.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I thought that was your University.

It is just amazing what is being done in this field. I watched that documentary on organ scaffolding and was blown away when I saw the things they could do. I started a thread about it here. If I could start over again, this is the field that I'd love to go into.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=467772

I'm so happy that you're here with your knowledge on this.

Thankyou It really is an amazing field! I saw your thread a while ago whilst answering a question in another thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=500261&highlight=Viable. There is huge potential for things like this to make the progression from experimental to routine. What's important is coming up with standard protocols and kits that can pass FDA approval, already there are a wealth of labs trying to make that jump. Hope it happens soon!

 

[mheslep]

While this makes sense for homogeneous tissue, what are the possibilities for more heterogeneous structures? That is, how might capillaries and nerves be embedded and grown in large structures like this wind pipe?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

While this makes sense for homogeneous tissue, what are the possibilities for more heterogeneous structures? That is, how might capillaries and nerves be embedded and grown in large structures like this wind pipe?

Co-culture systems are in place and there are various methods to achieve this from serial culture (culture one after the other) to engineering different parts of the scaffold to attract different cells. As for growing nerves/capillaries both of those require specific engineering for example embedding nerve conduit scaffolds or releasing factors that stimulate vascularisation. These are all active areas of research but at the moment there are no gold standards for how to do these things.

 

[mheslep]

Co-culture systems are in place and there are various methods to achieve this from serial culture (culture one after the other) to engineering different parts of the scaffold to attract different cells. As for growing nerves/capillaries both of those require specific engineering for example embedding nerve conduit scaffolds or releasing factors that stimulate vascularisation. These are all active areas of research but at the moment there are no gold standards for how to do these things.

I asked since in general it seems from a far that most of the replication research is targeting internal organs versus components of the limbs. Thus I was guessing that it is more a challenge to make, say, a foot or a finger with bone/tendon/vasculature/skin etc than an internal organ?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I asked since in general it seems from a far that most of the replication research is targeting internal organs versus components of the limbs. Thus I was guessing that it is more a challenge to make, say, a foot or a finger with bone/tendon/vasculature/skin etc than an internal organ?

Yup. The difficulty is in the type of organ you are trying to make, especially if what you are trying to make has multiple tissue types. And stimulating angiogenesis is a significant problem still.

 

[mheslep]

... And stimulating angiogenesis is a significant problem still.

Unfortunately cancer cells seem to have mastered the art.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Unfortunately cancer cells seem to have mastered the art.

Well yes and no, they release pro-angiogenic factors but importantly they don't do it correctly (for instance they may overproduce VEGF) and this creates leaky blood vessels. These leaky vessels ensure that little reservoirs of body fluids are kept around the tumour at pressure creating a potential target for future treatment; drugs that pool under these conditions and have little side effects because elsewhere they are thinly distributed.

Part of the problem with angiogenesis is the wealth of different factors however a good alternative would be something that targeted something upstream of all these factors.