By Mary Chunko
For patients who need an organ transplant, the news that a compatible organ has been found brings joy mingled with gratitude and sadness. The unfortunate fact is that for one person to receive a transferable organ, another person had to die.
Ali Khademhosseini, whose achievements include some 16 patents and numerous awards, wants to change that.
GROWING TISSUE
The Iranian-born bioengineer, who is an associate professor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, believes that one day scientists will be able to use patients’ own cells to grow tissues and organs to replace those damaged in the body.
Khademhosseini’s laboratory combines cells from patients — such as heart cells — with other types of cells to replicate the kinds of interconnections that cells have in the human body. They build what Khademhosseini and his colleagues call “living Legos” — tiny fibers and particles of various shapes studded with cells — which can self-assemble into complex structures resembling those found in natural tissues. The interconnected cells form a kind of scaffolding for growing tissues.
This innovation addresses many problems with conventional tissue engineering in which cells are seeded onto biodegradable scaffolds.
Looking to the future, Khademhosseini said: “I would like to pursue some of the work we are doing in the lab and push it to be used clinically to treat patients. Translating our research into improving patients’ lives is our goal, and seeing it happen over the next few years would be great.”
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Tissue – An aggregate of cells in an organism that have similar or identical structure and function.
Fiber – Any elongated cell or threadlike structure such as a muscle fiber or nerve fiber.
Biodegradable – Capable of being decomposed by living organisms such as bacteria.
