University of Washington (UW) researchers, including Dr. Charles “Chuck” Murry, professor of pathology and bioengineering, have succeeded in engineering human tissue patches free of some problems that have stymied stem-cell repair for damaged hearts.
The disk-shaped patches can be fabricated in sizes ranging from less than a millimeter to a half-inch in diameter. Until now, engineering tissue for heart repair has been hampered by cells dying at the transplant core, because nutrients and oxygen reached the edges of the patch but not the center. To make matters worse, the scaffolding materials to position the cells often proved to be harmful.
Read the full story at ScienceDaily.