Building Lungs From Scratch

Article found here.

Laura Niklason, a biomedical engineering professor at Yale, has discovered a way of creating the first lungs that are capable of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. What had been keeping researchers from doing this before was the lack of a scaffolding to create the lung inside of to give it the correct shape and mechanical properties. Niklason used a similar technique found in growing hearts, livers, and kidneys. She used a detergent to wash out cells from the lung tissue of rats that could cause an immune reaction after transplantation. What was left behind was a matrix that had the correct shape, mechanical properties, and vasculature.

Niklason was surprised to find that not only did the matrix have all the right properties, it also kept a kind of zip code for new cells. When she implanted new lung cells into the matrix, they landed in the places that they were supposed to be. She then used a bioreactor to simulate and stimulate the growth of the cells as if they were in the womb growing. In the end, the lungs exchanged gas for a few hours which is an amazing accomplishment.

The reason I picked this article is because my grandmother smoked all throughout her middle ages and now has trouble breathing. She uses an oxygen tank wherever she goes and has trouble talking for long periods of time. Having implantable lungs could save many a life.