Stem cells that are able to regenerate damaged lung tissue have been discovered by scientists. The brochioalveolar stem cells (BASCs), naturally present in the lungs of rodents and humans, are capable of rebuilding alveoli - the small air sacs in lungs.
Professor Frank McKeon, from the Genome Institute in Singapore and Harvard Medical School, hopes that the discovery of the stem cells will lead to new treatments for people with damaged lungs. 'We have found that the lungs do in fact have a robust potential for regeneration, and we've identified the specific stem cells responsible', he said.
The stem cells were isolated after researchers infected mice with a form of the H1N1 influenza virus - similar to the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic - to observe lung damage and regeneration. The virus initially damaged more than half of the lung alveolar tissue, but the alveoli had regenerated by three months after infection. There was no sign of lung fibrosis, a chronic scarring condition commonly seen after other forms of lung damage.
'We saw essentially pristine lungs at three months after a loss of 50 percent of lung tissue', said Professor McKeon, who led the team.
The cells multiply rapidly, migrate towards areas of damage in the lungs and assemble into 'pods' that go on to form new alveoli. Similar stem cells with the ability to multiply and form pod-like structures were also isolated in human lung tissue.
Researchers are now working to identify the signalling molecules and growth factors that promote lung regeneration at repair sites. Such work could result in improved therapies for acute and chronic lung damage caused by conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pulmonary fibrosis.
'These findings suggest new cell- and factor-based strategies for enhancing lung regeneration following acute damage from infection, and even in chronic conditions such as pulmonary fibrosis', said Professor McKeon. 'It's too early to say common lung diseases will be treatable, but it's a start, and there's a lot of potential'.
In another study, also published in the journal Cell, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College identified a key signalling molecule involved in regenerating alveoli and lung tissue.
The molecule - matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14) - is required for the growth of new alveoli. When one lung is removed, new alveoli are known to grow in the other intact lung. But when the researchers blocked the activity of MMP14, the lung's regenerative capacity was impaired. Reintroducing MMP14 restored regeneration. The researchers found that cells in the blood vessels of the lungs produced MMP14.
'The key is that the blood vessels turn on the pathways for regeneration', said Dr Shahin Rafii, who led the research; 'the therapeutic potential is tremendous'.
Friday, December 30, 2011
new approach for emphysema treatment
Uptake Medical, which is developing new medical device technologies to treat emphysema, has raised $35 million of a $41 million venture capital round, according to a SEC filing.
Here’s a closer look at how Uptake’s InterVapor technology works, which utilizes heated water vapor to reduce diseased tissue in emphysema patients.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Scientists find possible lung stem cell
Scientists find possible lung stem cell
click to read more info on lung stem cells for emphysema
Scientists find possible lung stem cell, could lead to new therapies for emphysema, other ills
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Scientists believe they've discovered stem cells in the lung that can make a wide variety of the organ's tissues, a finding that might open new doors for treating emphysema and other diseases.
When these human cells were injected into mice, they showed their versatility by rebuilding airways, air sacs and blood vessels within two weeks. One expert called that "amazing."
While stem cells have been found in bone marrow and some other parts of the body, it hasn't been clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lung.
Experts not involved in the study stressed that the work must be confirmed by further research and that it's too soon to make any promises about therapies. But they said it could be a significant advance in a difficult field of research.
"These are remarkable findings and they have extraordinary implications," said Dr. Alan Fine of Boston University, who called the mouse results amazing. "But it has to be replicated."
Stem cells can produce a wide variety of specialized kinds of cells. Scientists are working to harness them as repair kits for fixing damage from diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Most people have heard about embryonic stem cells, which have caused controversy because embryos must be destroyed to recover them.
In contrast, the new lung cell would be an "adult" stem cell, like others found in the body. Adult stem cells maintain and repair the tissues where they're found. The bone marrow cells, for example, give rise to various kinds of blood cells, and they've been used for years in transplants to treat leukemia and other blood diseases.
The lung work is reported in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine by Drs. Piero Anversa and Joseph Loscalzo and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In a telephone interview, Anversa said it's not clear what the lung stem cell normally does but that he thinks it's involved in replacing other lung cells lost throughout life.
Loscalzo said it's too early to tell what lung diseases might be treated someday by using the cells. He said researchers are initially looking at emphysema and high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, called pulmonary hypertension. Emphysema is a progressive disease that destroys key parts of the lung, leaving large cavities that interfere with the lung's function.
Anversa said the cells may also prove useful to build up lungs after lung cancer surgery. It's not clear whether they could be used in treating asthma, he said.
While a lung stem cell theoretically could be used to grow a lung in a lab for transplant, Loscalzo said that would be very difficult because the lung is so complex. Instead, he said, scientists will first look at isolating the cells from a patient, multiplying them in the laboratory, and then injecting them back into the patient's lung.
The mouse experiments showed "the cells are smarter than we are," able to build normal lung structures in an injured lung, he said.
The researchers found the cells in donated surgical samples of adult tissue. The same cells appeared in tissue donated from nine fetuses that had died, giving evidence that the cells are present before birth and perhaps participate in lung development. To study the cells' behaviour, researchers injured lungs of mice and then injected six doses of about 20,000 cells apiece.
Within 10 to 14 days, the injected cells had formed airways, blood vessels and air sacs. "We had a very large amount of regeneration" involving millions of new cells, Anversa said.
The new tissue showed "seamless" connection to the rest of the lung, and researchers believe it would work, although that wasn't tested, Loscalzo said. The results appeared in all 29 mice tested.
Dr. Brigitte Gomperts at the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, said scientists have been hotly debating whether a single stem cell type could give rise to the more than 40 cell types in the lung __ cells that do such different jobs as protecting the body from inhaled germs and exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide. It's a technically difficult question to study, said Gomperts, who was not involved in the new work.
If the new results can be confirmed, "it's a significant advance" that will help in understanding normal lung repair and abnormal repair found in disease, she said.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Swiss foundation.
When these human cells were injected into mice, they showed their versatility by rebuilding airways, air sacs and blood vessels within two weeks. One expert called that "amazing."
While stem cells have been found in bone marrow and some other parts of the body, it hasn't been clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lung.
Experts not involved in the study stressed that the work must be confirmed by further research and that it's too soon to make any promises about therapies. But they said it could be a significant advance in a difficult field of research.
"These are remarkable findings and they have extraordinary implications," said Dr. Alan Fine of Boston University, who called the mouse results amazing. "But it has to be replicated."
Stem cells can produce a wide variety of specialized kinds of cells. Scientists are working to harness them as repair kits for fixing damage from diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Most people have heard about embryonic stem cells, which have caused controversy because embryos must be destroyed to recover them.
In contrast, the new lung cell would be an "adult" stem cell, like others found in the body. Adult stem cells maintain and repair the tissues where they're found. The bone marrow cells, for example, give rise to various kinds of blood cells, and they've been used for years in transplants to treat leukemia and other blood diseases.
The lung work is reported in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine by Drs. Piero Anversa and Joseph Loscalzo and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In a telephone interview, Anversa said it's not clear what the lung stem cell normally does but that he thinks it's involved in replacing other lung cells lost throughout life.
Loscalzo said it's too early to tell what lung diseases might be treated someday by using the cells. He said researchers are initially looking at emphysema and high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs, called pulmonary hypertension. Emphysema is a progressive disease that destroys key parts of the lung, leaving large cavities that interfere with the lung's function.
Anversa said the cells may also prove useful to build up lungs after lung cancer surgery. It's not clear whether they could be used in treating asthma, he said.
While a lung stem cell theoretically could be used to grow a lung in a lab for transplant, Loscalzo said that would be very difficult because the lung is so complex. Instead, he said, scientists will first look at isolating the cells from a patient, multiplying them in the laboratory, and then injecting them back into the patient's lung.
The mouse experiments showed "the cells are smarter than we are," able to build normal lung structures in an injured lung, he said.
The researchers found the cells in donated surgical samples of adult tissue. The same cells appeared in tissue donated from nine fetuses that had died, giving evidence that the cells are present before birth and perhaps participate in lung development. To study the cells' behaviour, researchers injured lungs of mice and then injected six doses of about 20,000 cells apiece.
Within 10 to 14 days, the injected cells had formed airways, blood vessels and air sacs. "We had a very large amount of regeneration" involving millions of new cells, Anversa said.
The new tissue showed "seamless" connection to the rest of the lung, and researchers believe it would work, although that wasn't tested, Loscalzo said. The results appeared in all 29 mice tested.
Dr. Brigitte Gomperts at the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, said scientists have been hotly debating whether a single stem cell type could give rise to the more than 40 cell types in the lung __ cells that do such different jobs as protecting the body from inhaled germs and exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide. It's a technically difficult question to study, said Gomperts, who was not involved in the new work.
If the new results can be confirmed, "it's a significant advance" that will help in understanding normal lung repair and abnormal repair found in disease, she said.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Swiss foundation.
click to read more info on lung stem cells for emphysema
new procedure InterVapor used to treat severe emphysema
Surgical and endoscopic options can be considered in patients with severe emphysema once they have been treated with many of the above treatment options, but still remain disabled due to the disease. These options include:
read more on this new procedure for emphysema
- Surgical Options: Lung volume reduction surgery removes a portion of the diseased lung tissue and has been shown to improve lung function, symptoms and exercise capacity. Lung transplantation is an option for only a very select groups of patients. Even though both are effective, they are associated with significant risks and complications for the few patients who qualify for them, and are rarely used.
- Endoscopic Lung Volume Reduction (ELVR): A relatively new group of non-surgical treatments use a bronchoscope – a small flexible tube with a light and camera lens – to permanently treat and reduce hyperinflation. These include placing one-way valves, wire-like coils or chemical foam sealant into the lungs. All of these ELVR treatments are designed to provide a permanent approach to treating hyperinflation. InterVapor™ is also in this group. But unlike these other treatments, InterVapor uses only heated water vapor and the body’s healing process to effectively reduce the size and volume of the lung.
read more on this new procedure for emphysema
Monday, December 19, 2011
what's this new Lung perfusion ?
what's this new Lung perfusion ?
New hope for lung transplant patients, Lung perfusion
New machine and procedures to restore donor lungs for possible use as transplants.
This is not performed on your lungs. It is performed on future donor lungs.
Here a short story concerning a older patient who was in Susan Dunnett's end stage emphysema made it nearly impossible for her to do anything. It would take the 65-year-old up to 40 minutes to get up the steps and it as long as 20 minutes to get out of bed.
“I just didn't have the breath for it,” she says.
A doctor, Aldo Iacono, says she probably had about a year to six months to live.
Dr. Iacono knew the 40-year-smoker only had one hope for survival.
“There is no medical therapy for treatment for emphysema when end stage-only treatment is a lung transplant,” the doctor says.
In August, Dunnett became the first person in the country to receive a lung transplant through a new experimental treatment called lung perfusion at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
With this, the donor's lungs are placed on a machine that is able to reverse damage done at death that previously made many lungs unsuitable for transplant.
“We are able to circulate through the lungs a proprietary solution that helps the lungs restore themselves,” says Dr. Bartley Griffith. “And we can look at the lung on the rig and say it's getting better.”
Doctors say if this process saves four out of 10 lungs, it would nearly double the number of lungs available for the thousands of people waiting for a transplant.
“Unfortunately some of our patients never get a chance to have a transplant, the more we can do as physicians and scientists to improve those odds the better,” Griffith says.
It took Dunnett a couple months to recover from surgery. But now she feels great and doctors say her lungs are fully functional.
“I feel like I never smoked a cigarette- never had trouble breathing I feel normal,” Dunnett says. “It's given me my life back.
click for more info on the lung therapy
New hope for lung transplant patients, Lung perfusion
New machine and procedures to restore donor lungs for possible use as transplants.
This is not performed on your lungs. It is performed on future donor lungs.
Here a short story concerning a older patient who was in Susan Dunnett's end stage emphysema made it nearly impossible for her to do anything. It would take the 65-year-old up to 40 minutes to get up the steps and it as long as 20 minutes to get out of bed.
“I just didn't have the breath for it,” she says.
A doctor, Aldo Iacono, says she probably had about a year to six months to live.
Dr. Iacono knew the 40-year-smoker only had one hope for survival.
“There is no medical therapy for treatment for emphysema when end stage-only treatment is a lung transplant,” the doctor says.
In August, Dunnett became the first person in the country to receive a lung transplant through a new experimental treatment called lung perfusion at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
With this, the donor's lungs are placed on a machine that is able to reverse damage done at death that previously made many lungs unsuitable for transplant.
“We are able to circulate through the lungs a proprietary solution that helps the lungs restore themselves,” says Dr. Bartley Griffith. “And we can look at the lung on the rig and say it's getting better.”
Doctors say if this process saves four out of 10 lungs, it would nearly double the number of lungs available for the thousands of people waiting for a transplant.
“Unfortunately some of our patients never get a chance to have a transplant, the more we can do as physicians and scientists to improve those odds the better,” Griffith says.
It took Dunnett a couple months to recover from surgery. But now she feels great and doctors say her lungs are fully functional.
“I feel like I never smoked a cigarette- never had trouble breathing I feel normal,” Dunnett says. “It's given me my life back.
click for more info on the lung therapy
Friday, December 16, 2011
Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs ?
Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs ?
JEFFREY BROWN: Next, research breakthroughs that seem almost like science fiction. It's all about growing human tissue and replacing or repairing muscles and, someday, even limbs.
NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien has our story.
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ, U.S. Marine Corps: It looked like a chicken, like if you would take a bite out of it down to the bone.
MILES O'BRIEN: It happened in Iraq in 2004. He was badly injured in an artillery attack on his convoy.
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: They patched it up because they said the other thank option would be amputation because they couldn't just leave my leg on with a hole in it.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine: You need people who think quantitatively and qualitatively working together on problems like this.
MILES O'BRIEN: What he did was reach out to this man. Dr. Steve Badylak is deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where they are in the vanguard of a fast-moving field called tissue engineering. The goal? Grow tissue or even whole organs to repair damaged or diseased human bodies.
Here, they are using pig bladders to help grow human muscle -- that's right, pig bladders. It turns out, they are a good source of a fundamental biological building block known as the extracellular matrix.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: So, the matrix, the extracellular matrix -- we call it ECM -- is a sort of unique collection of structural and functional molecules that we then use as a therapeutic device to tell the body how to heal itself.
MILES O'BRIEN: ECM is like a magnet and a manual for the stem cells inside us. Scientists are not sure why, but the matrix lures those malleable cells and gives them the cues they need to, in this case, morph into muscle.
MILES O'BRIEN: The pillow.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We call this a powder pillow.
MILES O'BRIEN: The stem cells made their way to a pillow filled with powdered pig bladder matrix implanted in Corporal Hernandez's thigh in 2008. With the help of a lot of hard physical therapy from a very motivated Marine, they became muscle, a lot of muscle.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We never imagined we were going to get the robust response that we got. Now, he's replaced somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of his muscle mass at that site, but that muscle has gotten so strong that it's something like 50 percent of the strength of the quad.
MILES O'BRIEN: Badylak is starting a larger human trial.
So, using ECM, are you manufacturing body parts?
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We're allowing the body to manufacture. We're setting the stage.
MILES O'BRIEN: Laura Niklason is doing just that in her lab at Yale University. So we can buy parts?
LAURA NIKLASON, Yale University: We have reached the point where we can buy parts. For simple tissues, we can buy parts.
MILES O'BRIEN: Niklason hopes the spare arteries and veins she has grown will be tested in human trials soon, but she is not stopping there. She and her team are growing living, breathing replacement rat lungs that are genetically tailored for a rejection-free transplant, because they are grown from the very cells of the recipient.
LAURA NIKLASON: Otherwise, you would be making a lung that would reject, just like the way lung transplants can reject now. So that's one of the major challenges with engineering a human lung, is we're going to have to learn enough and employ enough stem cell biology so that we can take stem cells from the patient and coax them to become all of the different cell types that we need to make a lung.
MILES O'BRIEN: The key to the coaxing process is our friend the extracellular matrix.
A matrix from a donor rat lung is bathed in cells that are genetically identical to the recipient. The cells marinate in an incubator called a bioreactor for seven days, creating a lung that is a perfect genetic match for the recipient.
If they're not breathing, they don't develop, essentially?
LAURA NIKLASON: Yeah.
MILES O'BRIEN: Unfortunately, the rat lungs she has grown and transplanted so far are short-lived. They fail within hours because of blood clots. Niklason isn't sure why. In fact, there is still a lot she is not sure of.
LAURA NIKLASON: That matrix has an enormous number of cues which we don't yet understand. But it directs the adhesion and the survival of cells within the lung. So, even though we deliver a mixture of cells into the lung, we find that they all go to their proper locations.
MILES O'BRIEN: It will be a long time before scientists will grow a breathing lung or a beating heart that could save a human life, but maybe not as long as you think.
DR. ANTHONY ATALA, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: When we started this, this was really still considered science fiction.
MILES O'BRIEN: Anthony Atala is director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He's been at it for more than two decades. Now, he and his team are working on engineering more than 30 different tissues and organs, bladders and urethras, ears, skin, muscles, human liver tissue, and even a beating heart valve.
DR. ANTHONY ATALA: We know that, naturally, what a heart does is, it beats on its own. So, for us, the concept of recreating this in the laboratory is really nothing more than just recreating what nature already knows how to do.
MILES O'BRIEN: Atala makes it sound easy, but, of course, it is not. Humans do have the ability to regenerate. Our skin, for example, turns over every two weeks or so. But, over time, humans have also evolved to seal up disease and injuries with scars. It's good for keeping us alive after a trauma, but it prevents regeneration.
DR. DAVID GARDINER, University of California, Irvine: Just because we don't regenerate doesn't mean that we can't regenerate. It just means that we don't.
Now, what we have done here is change the information in the cells at the wound-site.
MILES O'BRIEN: Dr. David Gardiner of the University of California, Irvine, is trying to learn how to make humans better regenerators by studying nature's reigning regeneration champ: the salamander.
DR. DAVID GARDINER: When you cut off a salamander's arm, you can cut it off at any level. So, you can cut off fingers, you can cut off at the wrist or the arm or the elbow or the shoulder. And whatever you cut off, that's always what grows back. It doesn't grow back more and it doesn't grow back less.
MILES O'BRIEN: Gardiner wonders how a human who has lost a limb might be able to recover like a salamander.
DR. DAVID GARDINER: We do in fact have intrinsic regenerative abilities, just like the salamander does. It's just like two ends of the spectrum. We're not very good at regenerating complex organ structures like limbs or spinal cords and stuff like that.
MILES O'BRIEN: But there is some promising research on that front as well. Look at this before-and-after video. It's the same paralyzed rat. Its ability to walk greatly improved after cells like these were implanted near its spinal cord injury.
Aileen Anderson is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine.
AILEEN ANDERSON, University of California, Irvine: What we know is that when we transplant these cells, we can restore the ability of animals with spinal cord injury to step. We can restore their ability to be coordinated.
MILES O'BRIEN: They are called neural stem cells, stem cells that are ideally suited to repair the central nervous system.
So, neural stem cells are more specialized?
AILEEN ANDERSON: Neural stem cells are more specialized. If you picture sort of a tree with embryonic stem cells at the trunk, and all the specialized cells that are relative to different organs like the brain or the spleen or your bone marrow, up in the branches, they become more and more specialized as you ascend.
MILES O'BRIEN: Anderson and her team are working toward clinical trials to inject neural stem cells into humans with spinal cord injuries.
Could these stem cells act like jumper cables? Maybe so.
AILEEN ANDERSON: Our hypothesis, our working plan here is that that restoration of circuitry is what's yielding the recovery of function.
MILES O'BRIEN: But you don't know for sure?
AILEEN ANDERSON: Nobody knows. How -- how many things do you know in science that you know for sure? We think we -- we think we know this because, if we transplant cells and let animals recover to a stable baseline, and then we selectively ablate the human cells that we transplanted, we lose the functional recovery.
MILES O'BRIEN: Francesco Clark is a big believer in the seemingly magical power of stem cells. In 2002, he dove into the shallow end of a pool.
FRANCESCO CLARK: And I was completely paralyzed in the blink of an eye.
MILES O'BRIEN: At first, he could not move a muscle or even breathe on his own. Over time, he has steadily improved, thanks to a tough regimen of physical therapy and, he says, three stem cell treatments he received in China and Germany. They are not yet approved in the U.S.
So, at this point, do you firmly believe there will be a cure for paralysis and that will derive out of stem cells treatments?
FRANCESCO CLARK: Absolutely. Yes, they're no doubt in my mind. I mean, I'm talking, I'm breathing, I'm moving my arms, I'm wiggling around, I'm getting stronger. It's just -- you want to say it's a matter of time, but it's not just time. There's a lot of effort that goes into it.
MILES O'BRIEN: So, how many years before we come back and see you walking around the house here?
FRANCESCO CLARK: I'm pushing for five years.
MILES O'BRIEN: For real?
FRANCESCO CLARK: Yeah.
MILES O'BRIEN: Like any Marine worth his salt, Isaias Hernandez is still pushing as well.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: He's been such a warrior in more ways than one, that he deserves whatever we can give him. So, we're going to do one more surgery on Cpl. Hernandez. We're going to add more matrix and see if we can build more muscle for him and make him even better than he is today. So that's his future.
MILES O'BRIEN: How you feeling?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Good.
MILES O'BRIEN: His goal for the future? A return to combat.
Why do you want to go back?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Want to finish up at least a full tour -- if not, then just do everything to the best of my ability.
MILES O'BRIEN: We done yet?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Depends on how long you want to ride for. Because these trails total, it's about 10 miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: How is the leg?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Leg's good.
MILES O'BRIEN: Let's do it.
I am living, exhausted proof he already has plenty of ability, thanks in large part to an exploding field of science that may one day make us all live longer and stronger.
click for a brief video on tissues
JEFFREY BROWN: Next, research breakthroughs that seem almost like science fiction. It's all about growing human tissue and replacing or repairing muscles and, someday, even limbs.
NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien has our story.
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ, U.S. Marine Corps: It looked like a chicken, like if you would take a bite out of it down to the bone.
MILES O'BRIEN: It happened in Iraq in 2004. He was badly injured in an artillery attack on his convoy.
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: They patched it up because they said the other thank option would be amputation because they couldn't just leave my leg on with a hole in it.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine: You need people who think quantitatively and qualitatively working together on problems like this.
MILES O'BRIEN: What he did was reach out to this man. Dr. Steve Badylak is deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where they are in the vanguard of a fast-moving field called tissue engineering. The goal? Grow tissue or even whole organs to repair damaged or diseased human bodies.
Here, they are using pig bladders to help grow human muscle -- that's right, pig bladders. It turns out, they are a good source of a fundamental biological building block known as the extracellular matrix.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: So, the matrix, the extracellular matrix -- we call it ECM -- is a sort of unique collection of structural and functional molecules that we then use as a therapeutic device to tell the body how to heal itself.
MILES O'BRIEN: ECM is like a magnet and a manual for the stem cells inside us. Scientists are not sure why, but the matrix lures those malleable cells and gives them the cues they need to, in this case, morph into muscle.
MILES O'BRIEN: The pillow.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We call this a powder pillow.
MILES O'BRIEN: The stem cells made their way to a pillow filled with powdered pig bladder matrix implanted in Corporal Hernandez's thigh in 2008. With the help of a lot of hard physical therapy from a very motivated Marine, they became muscle, a lot of muscle.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We never imagined we were going to get the robust response that we got. Now, he's replaced somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of his muscle mass at that site, but that muscle has gotten so strong that it's something like 50 percent of the strength of the quad.
MILES O'BRIEN: Badylak is starting a larger human trial.
So, using ECM, are you manufacturing body parts?
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: We're allowing the body to manufacture. We're setting the stage.
MILES O'BRIEN: Laura Niklason is doing just that in her lab at Yale University. So we can buy parts?
LAURA NIKLASON, Yale University: We have reached the point where we can buy parts. For simple tissues, we can buy parts.
MILES O'BRIEN: Niklason hopes the spare arteries and veins she has grown will be tested in human trials soon, but she is not stopping there. She and her team are growing living, breathing replacement rat lungs that are genetically tailored for a rejection-free transplant, because they are grown from the very cells of the recipient.
LAURA NIKLASON: Otherwise, you would be making a lung that would reject, just like the way lung transplants can reject now. So that's one of the major challenges with engineering a human lung, is we're going to have to learn enough and employ enough stem cell biology so that we can take stem cells from the patient and coax them to become all of the different cell types that we need to make a lung.
MILES O'BRIEN: The key to the coaxing process is our friend the extracellular matrix.
A matrix from a donor rat lung is bathed in cells that are genetically identical to the recipient. The cells marinate in an incubator called a bioreactor for seven days, creating a lung that is a perfect genetic match for the recipient.
If they're not breathing, they don't develop, essentially?
LAURA NIKLASON: Yeah.
MILES O'BRIEN: Unfortunately, the rat lungs she has grown and transplanted so far are short-lived. They fail within hours because of blood clots. Niklason isn't sure why. In fact, there is still a lot she is not sure of.
LAURA NIKLASON: That matrix has an enormous number of cues which we don't yet understand. But it directs the adhesion and the survival of cells within the lung. So, even though we deliver a mixture of cells into the lung, we find that they all go to their proper locations.
MILES O'BRIEN: It will be a long time before scientists will grow a breathing lung or a beating heart that could save a human life, but maybe not as long as you think.
DR. ANTHONY ATALA, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: When we started this, this was really still considered science fiction.
MILES O'BRIEN: Anthony Atala is director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He's been at it for more than two decades. Now, he and his team are working on engineering more than 30 different tissues and organs, bladders and urethras, ears, skin, muscles, human liver tissue, and even a beating heart valve.
DR. ANTHONY ATALA: We know that, naturally, what a heart does is, it beats on its own. So, for us, the concept of recreating this in the laboratory is really nothing more than just recreating what nature already knows how to do.
MILES O'BRIEN: Atala makes it sound easy, but, of course, it is not. Humans do have the ability to regenerate. Our skin, for example, turns over every two weeks or so. But, over time, humans have also evolved to seal up disease and injuries with scars. It's good for keeping us alive after a trauma, but it prevents regeneration.
DR. DAVID GARDINER, University of California, Irvine: Just because we don't regenerate doesn't mean that we can't regenerate. It just means that we don't.
Now, what we have done here is change the information in the cells at the wound-site.
MILES O'BRIEN: Dr. David Gardiner of the University of California, Irvine, is trying to learn how to make humans better regenerators by studying nature's reigning regeneration champ: the salamander.
DR. DAVID GARDINER: When you cut off a salamander's arm, you can cut it off at any level. So, you can cut off fingers, you can cut off at the wrist or the arm or the elbow or the shoulder. And whatever you cut off, that's always what grows back. It doesn't grow back more and it doesn't grow back less.
MILES O'BRIEN: Gardiner wonders how a human who has lost a limb might be able to recover like a salamander.
DR. DAVID GARDINER: We do in fact have intrinsic regenerative abilities, just like the salamander does. It's just like two ends of the spectrum. We're not very good at regenerating complex organ structures like limbs or spinal cords and stuff like that.
MILES O'BRIEN: But there is some promising research on that front as well. Look at this before-and-after video. It's the same paralyzed rat. Its ability to walk greatly improved after cells like these were implanted near its spinal cord injury.
Aileen Anderson is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine.
AILEEN ANDERSON, University of California, Irvine: What we know is that when we transplant these cells, we can restore the ability of animals with spinal cord injury to step. We can restore their ability to be coordinated.
MILES O'BRIEN: They are called neural stem cells, stem cells that are ideally suited to repair the central nervous system.
So, neural stem cells are more specialized?
AILEEN ANDERSON: Neural stem cells are more specialized. If you picture sort of a tree with embryonic stem cells at the trunk, and all the specialized cells that are relative to different organs like the brain or the spleen or your bone marrow, up in the branches, they become more and more specialized as you ascend.
MILES O'BRIEN: Anderson and her team are working toward clinical trials to inject neural stem cells into humans with spinal cord injuries.
Could these stem cells act like jumper cables? Maybe so.
AILEEN ANDERSON: Our hypothesis, our working plan here is that that restoration of circuitry is what's yielding the recovery of function.
MILES O'BRIEN: But you don't know for sure?
AILEEN ANDERSON: Nobody knows. How -- how many things do you know in science that you know for sure? We think we -- we think we know this because, if we transplant cells and let animals recover to a stable baseline, and then we selectively ablate the human cells that we transplanted, we lose the functional recovery.
MILES O'BRIEN: Francesco Clark is a big believer in the seemingly magical power of stem cells. In 2002, he dove into the shallow end of a pool.
FRANCESCO CLARK: And I was completely paralyzed in the blink of an eye.
MILES O'BRIEN: At first, he could not move a muscle or even breathe on his own. Over time, he has steadily improved, thanks to a tough regimen of physical therapy and, he says, three stem cell treatments he received in China and Germany. They are not yet approved in the U.S.
So, at this point, do you firmly believe there will be a cure for paralysis and that will derive out of stem cells treatments?
FRANCESCO CLARK: Absolutely. Yes, they're no doubt in my mind. I mean, I'm talking, I'm breathing, I'm moving my arms, I'm wiggling around, I'm getting stronger. It's just -- you want to say it's a matter of time, but it's not just time. There's a lot of effort that goes into it.
MILES O'BRIEN: So, how many years before we come back and see you walking around the house here?
FRANCESCO CLARK: I'm pushing for five years.
MILES O'BRIEN: For real?
FRANCESCO CLARK: Yeah.
MILES O'BRIEN: Like any Marine worth his salt, Isaias Hernandez is still pushing as well.
DR. STEPHEN BADYLAK: He's been such a warrior in more ways than one, that he deserves whatever we can give him. So, we're going to do one more surgery on Cpl. Hernandez. We're going to add more matrix and see if we can build more muscle for him and make him even better than he is today. So that's his future.
MILES O'BRIEN: How you feeling?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Good.
MILES O'BRIEN: His goal for the future? A return to combat.
Why do you want to go back?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Want to finish up at least a full tour -- if not, then just do everything to the best of my ability.
MILES O'BRIEN: We done yet?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Depends on how long you want to ride for. Because these trails total, it's about 10 miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: How is the leg?
CPL. ISAIAS HERNANDEZ: Leg's good.
MILES O'BRIEN: Let's do it.
I am living, exhausted proof he already has plenty of ability, thanks in large part to an exploding field of science that may one day make us all live longer and stronger.
click for a brief video on tissues
Friday, December 2, 2011
ALung planning European launch of artificial lung system
ALung planning European launch of artificial lung system
ALung Technologies is targeting a $10 million series B round of investment for the European launch of its respiratory assistance system that removes carbon dioxide from a patient’s blood while directly infusing the blood with oxygen.
The company is already most of the way there, having just closed on $6.6 million and having received commitments for $9 million, CEO Peter DeComo said.
Pittsburgh-based ALung recently completed a German pilot clinical trial of around 20 patients. The company has filed for the CE Mark, which would give it the right to begin European commercialization, and expects to launch its HemoLung product in the first or second quarter. ALung is planning a “slow, controlled launch,” DeComo said.
The series B round has been funded thus far primarily by existing investors, including Birchmere Ventures, a Pittsburgh-based early stage venture capital firm. “The series B is indicative of the current investors’ confidence in the company and its progress,” DeComo said.
The HemoLung delivers oxygen directly into the blood using a catheter into the femoral or jugular vein, similar to kidney dialysis. The technology is intended for patients with acute respiratory failure and could allow such patients to avoid having to breathe through a tube or ventilator.
In October 2010, ALung closed a $14 million series A round, led by Pittsburgh’s Eagle Ventures.
click to read the orginal news release on this artificial lung system
Saturday, November 19, 2011
a potential new treatment for emphysema
a potential new treatment for emphysema
AVIPERO Ltd (Registered in Scotland SC353945) is a private biopharmaceutical company established in 2009. Avipero is focused on the development of novel therapeutics for unmet clinical needs, characterised by a loss of cells and tissues. This includes conditions such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), arthritis and age related cell decline. AVIPERO has a proprietary first-in-class therapeutic platform covered by a strong intellectual property portfolio.
About beta1 integrin
Integrins are membrane spanning proteins facilitating the two way communication between the inside and outside of a cell. Integrins have the capacity to bind a multitude of molecules both inside and outside of the cell. The binding of these molecules results in the transmission of information into and out of the cell, which can influence a host of different cellular functions, including the cells metabolic activity and energy.
Of the many types of integrin receptors, the beta1 integrin is by far the most ubiquitous allowing cells to detect a vast array of stimuli ranging from toxins, protein hormones, neurotransmitters and macromolecules. There have been numerous publications documenting a potential role of beta1 integrin in tissue development and repair in several tissue types. It is clear that beta1 integrin plays a crucial role during postnatal skin development and wound healing, with the loss of epithelial beta1 integrin causing extensive skin blistering and wound healing defects.
About COPD
COPD includes a spectrum of disease that encompasses chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases of the lung in which the airways become narrowed. The narrowing leads to a limitation of the air flow to and from the lungs causing a shortness of breath. In contrast to asthma, the limitation of airflow is poorly reversible and usually gets progressively worse over time. In both bronchitis and emphysema there is localized lung tissue damage with inflammatory cell infiltration resulting in scarring an increasing thickness of the airway walls. COPD is a progressive illness and can lead to death. The incidence of COPD varies. In the UK there are an estimated 850,000 people with COPD or 1 person in 59 receiving a diagnosis of COPD in their lifetime. In the US the prevalence is higher with an estimated 1 in 20 people being diagnosed, or 5% of the population equating to around 13.5 million people. The WHO estimate that in 2005 around 5% (3 million) of all deaths globally where due to COPD, this is set to increase by around 30% over the next 10 years.
Treatment options are limited and address only the symptoms and not the underlying disease. The mainstay treatments are those primarily used to treat asthma and include the short and long acting bronchodilators and the inhaled anti-inflammatory steroids. More recently a number of anticholinergic drugs and PDE4 inhibitors have found favour in treatment of symptoms. However, their safety track record remains to be established.
For Further Information Please Contact:
Robert J. Naylor
AVIPERO Ltd
Director,
07919-621-733
info@avipero.com
AVIPERO Announces JB1a Reverses Tissue Damage and Induces Tissue Repair in Emphysema
Edinburgh, United Kingdom, November 18, 2011 --(PR.com)-- AVIPERO (Registered in Scotland SC353945) announced today the results of its first R&D therapeutic platform in non-stem cell tissue repair and regeneration.
The principal candidate, JB1a, is an antibody targeting the cell surface adhesion receptor beta1 integrin.
The preclinical study, funded by the Chief Scientist Office for Scotland, describes a novel therapeutic strategy which reverses tissue damage in emphysema. It was demonstrated that targeting beta1 integrin using JB1a shows potent reversal as well as protective effects in a number of in vitro and in vivo models of tissue damage. In an animal model of emphysema, JB1a reversed structural and functional features of emphysema. Emphysema is a major component of a progressive lung disease known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) characterised by the destruction of tissue around the smaller lung sacs, called alveoli, making these air sacs unable to hold their functional shape upon exhalation and leading to disabling shortness of breath.
The study results were published this month in the online edition of the international peer-reviewed journal Advances in Pharmacological Sciences under the title: “Allosteric modulation of beta1 integrin function induces lung tissue repair.” http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aps/aip/768720 .
Prof. Robert Naylor, AVIPERO’s Director, said this data provides a new paradigm for therapeutics in tissue repair and JB1a is an important early-stage compound. “AVIPERO’s technology platform of tissue repair biologicals show broad repair and protective effects in a variety of diseases and conditions,” explains Prof. Naylor. “JB1a has shown some interesting early-stage results in areas outside of emphysema, for example, arthritis, neurodegeneration and general age-related cellular decline. Such breadth will enable AVIPERO to expand its therapeutic platform and enhance its product pipeline. As the average life span is increasing, it is important to focus on addressing the unmet need of ageing-associated diseases.”
Rehab AlJamal-Naylor, AVIPERO’s Chief Scientific Officer, founder and inventor on the research project said JB1a was chosen for this research because of its broad and profound cellular protective and repair properties demonstrated previously in numerous models of diseases and tissue from human volunteers.
“The generic feature in all the models tested was the increase in mechanical stiffness of the cell that occurs during tissue damage leading to progressive cell death and degeneration. JB1a can reverse functional and structural outcomes through a mechanism involving the mechanical 're-tuning' and allowing normal repair to progress more efficiently,” AlJamal-Naylor said.
In the study, mice suffering from emphysema were treated with JB1a once or twice over a 2-week period. At the end of the treatment period, these mice and various control groups were tested for respiratory function, and structure. The JB1a treated mice showed almost complete reversal of loss of lung elasticity, a measure of lung function. The lung pathology was examined for physical evidence of emphysema. JB1a treatment resulted in a reduction in air space enlargement close to normal.
“We are delighted to see the effect of JB1a in these experiments,” Prof. Naylor said. “These promising results show that JB1a, albeit at a very early stage of development, can provide a potential treatment for emphysema.”
About AVIPERO Ltd.
The principal candidate, JB1a, is an antibody targeting the cell surface adhesion receptor beta1 integrin.
The preclinical study, funded by the Chief Scientist Office for Scotland, describes a novel therapeutic strategy which reverses tissue damage in emphysema. It was demonstrated that targeting beta1 integrin using JB1a shows potent reversal as well as protective effects in a number of in vitro and in vivo models of tissue damage. In an animal model of emphysema, JB1a reversed structural and functional features of emphysema. Emphysema is a major component of a progressive lung disease known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) characterised by the destruction of tissue around the smaller lung sacs, called alveoli, making these air sacs unable to hold their functional shape upon exhalation and leading to disabling shortness of breath.
The study results were published this month in the online edition of the international peer-reviewed journal Advances in Pharmacological Sciences under the title: “Allosteric modulation of beta1 integrin function induces lung tissue repair.” http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aps/aip/768720 .
Prof. Robert Naylor, AVIPERO’s Director, said this data provides a new paradigm for therapeutics in tissue repair and JB1a is an important early-stage compound. “AVIPERO’s technology platform of tissue repair biologicals show broad repair and protective effects in a variety of diseases and conditions,” explains Prof. Naylor. “JB1a has shown some interesting early-stage results in areas outside of emphysema, for example, arthritis, neurodegeneration and general age-related cellular decline. Such breadth will enable AVIPERO to expand its therapeutic platform and enhance its product pipeline. As the average life span is increasing, it is important to focus on addressing the unmet need of ageing-associated diseases.”
Rehab AlJamal-Naylor, AVIPERO’s Chief Scientific Officer, founder and inventor on the research project said JB1a was chosen for this research because of its broad and profound cellular protective and repair properties demonstrated previously in numerous models of diseases and tissue from human volunteers.
“The generic feature in all the models tested was the increase in mechanical stiffness of the cell that occurs during tissue damage leading to progressive cell death and degeneration. JB1a can reverse functional and structural outcomes through a mechanism involving the mechanical 're-tuning' and allowing normal repair to progress more efficiently,” AlJamal-Naylor said.
In the study, mice suffering from emphysema were treated with JB1a once or twice over a 2-week period. At the end of the treatment period, these mice and various control groups were tested for respiratory function, and structure. The JB1a treated mice showed almost complete reversal of loss of lung elasticity, a measure of lung function. The lung pathology was examined for physical evidence of emphysema. JB1a treatment resulted in a reduction in air space enlargement close to normal.
“We are delighted to see the effect of JB1a in these experiments,” Prof. Naylor said. “These promising results show that JB1a, albeit at a very early stage of development, can provide a potential treatment for emphysema.”
About AVIPERO Ltd.
AVIPERO Ltd (Registered in Scotland SC353945) is a private biopharmaceutical company established in 2009. Avipero is focused on the development of novel therapeutics for unmet clinical needs, characterised by a loss of cells and tissues. This includes conditions such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), arthritis and age related cell decline. AVIPERO has a proprietary first-in-class therapeutic platform covered by a strong intellectual property portfolio.
About beta1 integrin
Integrins are membrane spanning proteins facilitating the two way communication between the inside and outside of a cell. Integrins have the capacity to bind a multitude of molecules both inside and outside of the cell. The binding of these molecules results in the transmission of information into and out of the cell, which can influence a host of different cellular functions, including the cells metabolic activity and energy.
Of the many types of integrin receptors, the beta1 integrin is by far the most ubiquitous allowing cells to detect a vast array of stimuli ranging from toxins, protein hormones, neurotransmitters and macromolecules. There have been numerous publications documenting a potential role of beta1 integrin in tissue development and repair in several tissue types. It is clear that beta1 integrin plays a crucial role during postnatal skin development and wound healing, with the loss of epithelial beta1 integrin causing extensive skin blistering and wound healing defects.
About COPD
COPD includes a spectrum of disease that encompasses chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a pair of commonly co-existing diseases of the lung in which the airways become narrowed. The narrowing leads to a limitation of the air flow to and from the lungs causing a shortness of breath. In contrast to asthma, the limitation of airflow is poorly reversible and usually gets progressively worse over time. In both bronchitis and emphysema there is localized lung tissue damage with inflammatory cell infiltration resulting in scarring an increasing thickness of the airway walls. COPD is a progressive illness and can lead to death. The incidence of COPD varies. In the UK there are an estimated 850,000 people with COPD or 1 person in 59 receiving a diagnosis of COPD in their lifetime. In the US the prevalence is higher with an estimated 1 in 20 people being diagnosed, or 5% of the population equating to around 13.5 million people. The WHO estimate that in 2005 around 5% (3 million) of all deaths globally where due to COPD, this is set to increase by around 30% over the next 10 years.
Treatment options are limited and address only the symptoms and not the underlying disease. The mainstay treatments are those primarily used to treat asthma and include the short and long acting bronchodilators and the inhaled anti-inflammatory steroids. More recently a number of anticholinergic drugs and PDE4 inhibitors have found favour in treatment of symptoms. However, their safety track record remains to be established.
For Further Information Please Contact:
Robert J. Naylor
AVIPERO Ltd
Director,
07919-621-733
info@avipero.com
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Trigger Discovered Inside Blood Vessels of the Lung for lung regeneration
Trigger Discovered Inside Blood Vessels of the Lung for lung regeneration
A molecular trigger involved in lung regeneration has been uncovered. Investigators--including Dr. Ronald G. Crystal (Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) and Dr. Shahin Rafii (Professor of Medicine/Medicine & Genetics)-- have published their findings in Cell. The discovery is part of a labyrinth of advances toward a fuller understanding of the process of lung regeneration.
Lead investigator, Dr. Rafii (Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine & Co-Director of WCMC’s Ansary Stem Cell Institute), explains that the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and of bone marrow can be monitored readily, but it is “much more cumbersome” to study the process in adult organs such as the lung or heart. Using a mouse model, the investigators uncovered growth factor signals that trigger – or “turn on”-the generation of new lung alveoli. Lung alveoli are the numerous, tiny sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place during inhalation and exhalation. The regeneration process the researchers have defined in the journal Cell involves specialized cells (known as endothelial cells), which line the interior of blood vessels in the lung: These endothelial cells--by producing specific growth factors know as angiocrine factors--trigger and sustain the generation of new lung alveoli.
It has been long-known that when a mouse is missing one of its lungs, the remaining lung has the capacity to expand and regenerate. It is speculated that humans may have the same potential, unless, or until, prevented by smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage. Dr. Crystal, co-author of the study, notes there is no effective therapy for patients with COPD. “Based on this study,” he says, “I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung disease may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration.”
see the news release on on lung regeneration at Cornell University
A molecular trigger involved in lung regeneration has been uncovered. Investigators--including Dr. Ronald G. Crystal (Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) and Dr. Shahin Rafii (Professor of Medicine/Medicine & Genetics)-- have published their findings in Cell. The discovery is part of a labyrinth of advances toward a fuller understanding of the process of lung regeneration.
Lead investigator, Dr. Rafii (Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine & Co-Director of WCMC’s Ansary Stem Cell Institute), explains that the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and of bone marrow can be monitored readily, but it is “much more cumbersome” to study the process in adult organs such as the lung or heart. Using a mouse model, the investigators uncovered growth factor signals that trigger – or “turn on”-the generation of new lung alveoli. Lung alveoli are the numerous, tiny sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place during inhalation and exhalation. The regeneration process the researchers have defined in the journal Cell involves specialized cells (known as endothelial cells), which line the interior of blood vessels in the lung: These endothelial cells--by producing specific growth factors know as angiocrine factors--trigger and sustain the generation of new lung alveoli.
It has been long-known that when a mouse is missing one of its lungs, the remaining lung has the capacity to expand and regenerate. It is speculated that humans may have the same potential, unless, or until, prevented by smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage. Dr. Crystal, co-author of the study, notes there is no effective therapy for patients with COPD. “Based on this study,” he says, “I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung disease may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration.”
see the news release on on lung regeneration at Cornell University
Monday, November 7, 2011
Stem cells used for Lungs
SOURCES & REFERENCES
| Cell | 28 October 2011 |
| EurekAlert! | 27 October 2011 |
| International Business Times | 27 October 2011 |
| Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 28 October 2011 |
| New Scientist | 28 October 2011 see complete article om stem cells and growing new lungs |
Friday, November 4, 2011
November is Lung Cancer and COPD Awareness Month
November is Lung Cancer and COPD Awareness Month
It may be no coincidence that November is both Lung Cancer Awareness Month and COPD Awareness Month. Lung cancer and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are two of the leading causes of death in America – and also among the most underappreciated. This November, the American Lung Association is shining a spotlight on these two deadly diseases, and what’s being done to reduce their burden on American lives and that of their loved ones. Two new pages on the American Lung Association website are now dedicated to raising awareness about COPD and lung cancer year round.
Lung Cancer – The Top Cancer KillerLung cancer is a tragic disease that takes a terrible toll on patients, as well as their loved ones. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. In fact, more people die from lung cancer than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined. The American Lung Association has long been the leader in the fight against lung cancer and is taking new steps to help both patients and their families. Learn more.
COPD – Overlooked Lung Threat
Did you know that COPD is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.? Or that 12 million Americans have been diagnosed with COPD, while an estimated 12 million more have it, but have not been diagnosed? If you don’t, that’s part of the problem! Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis – can be prevented and is treatable, but only if people know about it. As part of our commitment to lung health, the American Lung Association is working to raise awareness of this overlooked lung health threat. We have also created useful tools for COPD patients and partnered with others to help people with COPD live healthier, more active lives. Learn more. Register Today for the Yuma AZ Healthy Lung Expo
Register Today for the Yuma Healthy Lung Expo!
There is still space available for the Yuma Healthy Lung Expo! Join us to learn more about lung health issues from great speakers, enjoy a delicious breakfast, spirometry testing, continuing education credits for healthcare professionals, door prizes and more!Wednesday, November 16th
Pivot Point Conference Center
310 North Madison Avenue
Yuma, AZ
Pivot Point Conference Center
310 North Madison Avenue
Yuma, AZ
Keynote Speaker: Scott Cerreta, BS, RRT from the COPD Foundation will present “COPD Co-morbidities and Optimal Care for Patient Self Management” $5 for patients and caregivers
$20 for healthcare professionals
$20 for healthcare professionals
Register online or register over the phone by calling 520-468-7458
For more information and the complete agenda visit www.breatheeasyaz.org
Questions? Please call Amber at 520-468-7458
Questions? Please call Amber at 520-468-7458
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
how to generate new replacement Alveoli ?
how to generate new replacement Alveoli ?
Once there, these cells assemble into discrete, Krt5+ pods and initiate expression of markers typical of alveoli. Gene expression profiles of these pods suggest that they are intermediates in the reconstitution of the alveolar-capillary network eradicated by viral infection. The dynamics of this p63-expressing stem cell in lung regeneration mirrors our parallel finding that defined pedigrees of human distal airway stem cells assemble alveoli-like structures in vitro and suggests new therapeutic avenues to acute and chronic airway disease.
sciencedirect.com lungs article
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867411011731
The extent of lung regeneration following catastrophic damage and the potential role of adult stem cells in such a process remains obscure. Sublethal infection of mice with an H1N1 influenza virus related to that of the 1918 pandemic triggers massive airway damage followed by apparent regeneration. We show here that p63-expressing stem cells in the bronchiolar epithelium undergo rapid proliferation after infection and radiate to interbronchiolar regions of alveolar ablation.
Once there, these cells assemble into discrete, Krt5+ pods and initiate expression of markers typical of alveoli. Gene expression profiles of these pods suggest that they are intermediates in the reconstitution of the alveolar-capillary network eradicated by viral infection. The dynamics of this p63-expressing stem cell in lung regeneration mirrors our parallel finding that defined pedigrees of human distal airway stem cells assemble alveoli-like structures in vitro and suggests new therapeutic avenues to acute and chronic airway disease.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867411011731
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
A Breath of Fresh Air in Lung Regeneration
Referred to by: A Breath of Fresh Air in Lung Regeneration
- Highlights
- Pulmonary capillary endothelial cells (PCECs) support alveologenesis
- Autocrine VEGFR2 and FGFR1 activation in PCECs induces MMP14 expression
- MMP14 unmasks EGF receptor ligands, enhancing epithelial cell proliferation
- Injection of activated PCECs or angiocrine factors accelerates lung regeneration
Summary
To identify pathways involved in adult lung regeneration, we employ a unilateral pneumonectomy (PNX) model that promotes regenerative alveolarization in the remaining intact lung. We show that PNX stimulates pulmonary capillary endothelial cells (PCECs) to produce angiocrine growth factors that induce proliferation of epithelial progenitor cells supporting alveologenesis. Endothelial cells trigger expansion of cocultured epithelial cells, forming three-dimensional angiospheres reminiscent of alveolar-capillary sacs. After PNX, endothelial-specific inducible genetic ablation of Vegfr2 and Fgfr1 in mice inhibits production of MMP14, impairing alveolarization. MMP14 promotes expansion of epithelial progenitor cells by unmasking cryptic EGF-like ectodomains that activate the EGF receptor (EGFR). Consistent with this, neutralization of MMP14 impairs EGFR-mediated alveolar regeneration, whereas administration of EGF or intravascular transplantation of MMP14+ PCECs into pneumonectomized Vegfr2/Fgfr1-deficient mice restores alveologenesis and lung inspiratory volume and compliance function. VEGFR2 and FGFR1 activation in PCECs therefore increases MMP14-dependent bioavailability of EGFR ligands to initiate and sustain alveologenesis.
Authors
Bi-Sen Ding, Daniel J. Nolan, Peipei Guo, Alexander O. Babazadeh, Zhongwei Cao, Zev Rosenwaks, Ronald G. Crystal, Michael Simons, Thomas N. Sato, Stefan Worgall, Koji Shido, Sina Y. Rabbany, Shahin Rafii
See Affiliations
See AffiliationsHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan Bioengineering Program, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA Corresponding author
Monday, October 31, 2011
trigger generation of new lung alveoli
trigger generation of new lung alveoli
In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.
While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.
"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."
"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.
In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.
While it has long been known that mice can regenerate and expand the capacity of one lung if the other is missing, this study now identifies molecular triggers behind this process, and the researchers believe these findings are relevant to humans.
"Several adult human organs have the potential upon injury to regenerate to a degree, and while we can readily monitor the pathways involved in the regeneration of liver and bone marrow, it is much more cumbersome to study the regeneration of other adult organs, such as the lung and heart," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, who is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine and co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"It is speculated, but not proven, that humans have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli until they can't anymore, due to smoking, cancer, or other extensive chronic damage," says Dr. Rafii, who is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Our hope is to take these findings into the clinic and see if we can induce lung regeneration in patients who need it, such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)."
"There is no effective therapy for patients diagnosed with COPD. Based on this study, I envision a day when patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases may benefit from treatment with factors derived from lung blood vessels that induce lung regeneration," states Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, who is a co-author of this study and professor of pulmonary and genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.
Stem cells used to regenerate lungs?
Stem cells used to regenerate lungs?
Working together, scientists and clinicians make research breakthrough that paves the way for novel therapies for respiratory diseases
"We have harvested these "pods" to provide insight into genes and secreted factors that likely represent key components in tissue regeneration.
These secreted factors might be used as biological drugs (biologics) to enhance regeneration of the lung and airways," said Dr Frank McKeon, Senior Group Leader of the Stem Cell and Developmental Biology at GIS.
The research was jointly led by Dr Frank McKeon from GIS and Dr Wa Xian from IMB in collaboration with scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and clinicians at the Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Prof Birgitte Lane, Executive Director of IMB, said, "This groundbreaking work is a fine example of collaborative research, which has brought us new insight into lung epithelial stem cells. This will have breakthrough consequences in many areas." Dr Edison Liu, Executive Director of GIS, added, "We will continue to seek impactful collaborations and build upon this research area where there is a need for novel therapies, which will offer hope for patients suffering from respiratory diseases."
click to read more on this adance in lung therapy in lung regeneration
Working together, scientists and clinicians make research breakthrough that paves the way for novel therapies for respiratory diseases
Scientists at A*STAR'S Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), have made a breakthrough discovery in the understanding of lung regeneration. Their research showed for the first time that distal airway stem cells (DASCs), a specific type of stem cells in the lungs, are involved in forming new alveoli to replace and repair damaged lung tissue, providing a firm foundation for understanding lung regeneration.
Lung damage is caused by a wide range of lung diseases including influenza infections and chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Influenza infection induces acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which affects more than 150,000 patients a year in the US, with a death rate of up to 50 percent. COPD is the fifth biggest killer worldwide.
The team took a novel approach in tackling the question of lung regeneration. They cloned adult stem cells taken from three different parts of the lungs - nasal epithelial stem cells (NESCs), tracheal airway stem cells (TASCs) and distal airway stem cells (DASCs). Despite the three types of cells being nearly 99 percent genetically identical, the team made the surprising observation that only DASCs formed alveoli when cloned in vitro.
"We are the first researchers to demonstrate that adult stem cells are intrinsically committed and will only differentiate into the specific cell type they originated from. In this case, only DASCs formed alveoli because alveolar cells are found in the distal airways, not in the nasal epithelial or tracheal airway", said Dr Wa Xian, Principal Investigator at IMB. "This is a big advancement in the understanding of adult stem cells that will encourage further research into their potential for regenerative medicine."
Using a mouse model of influenza, the team showed that after infection, DASCs rapidly grow and migrate to influenza-damaged lung areas where they form "pods". These "pods" mature to new alveoli which replace the alveoli that were destroyed by the infection, leading to lung regeneration.
Lung damage is caused by a wide range of lung diseases including influenza infections and chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Influenza infection induces acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which affects more than 150,000 patients a year in the US, with a death rate of up to 50 percent. COPD is the fifth biggest killer worldwide.
The team took a novel approach in tackling the question of lung regeneration. They cloned adult stem cells taken from three different parts of the lungs - nasal epithelial stem cells (NESCs), tracheal airway stem cells (TASCs) and distal airway stem cells (DASCs). Despite the three types of cells being nearly 99 percent genetically identical, the team made the surprising observation that only DASCs formed alveoli when cloned in vitro.
"We are the first researchers to demonstrate that adult stem cells are intrinsically committed and will only differentiate into the specific cell type they originated from. In this case, only DASCs formed alveoli because alveolar cells are found in the distal airways, not in the nasal epithelial or tracheal airway", said Dr Wa Xian, Principal Investigator at IMB. "This is a big advancement in the understanding of adult stem cells that will encourage further research into their potential for regenerative medicine."
Using a mouse model of influenza, the team showed that after infection, DASCs rapidly grow and migrate to influenza-damaged lung areas where they form "pods". These "pods" mature to new alveoli which replace the alveoli that were destroyed by the infection, leading to lung regeneration.
"We have harvested these "pods" to provide insight into genes and secreted factors that likely represent key components in tissue regeneration.
These secreted factors might be used as biological drugs (biologics) to enhance regeneration of the lung and airways," said Dr Frank McKeon, Senior Group Leader of the Stem Cell and Developmental Biology at GIS.
The research was jointly led by Dr Frank McKeon from GIS and Dr Wa Xian from IMB in collaboration with scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and clinicians at the Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Prof Birgitte Lane, Executive Director of IMB, said, "This groundbreaking work is a fine example of collaborative research, which has brought us new insight into lung epithelial stem cells. This will have breakthrough consequences in many areas." Dr Edison Liu, Executive Director of GIS, added, "We will continue to seek impactful collaborations and build upon this research area where there is a need for novel therapies, which will offer hope for patients suffering from respiratory diseases."
click to read more on this adance in lung therapy in lung regeneration
Sunday, October 30, 2011
UK HealthCare surgeons first to perform novel procedure for transplant patient
UK HealthCare surgeons first to perform novel procedure for transplant patient
The patient “feels like a miracle,” after surgeons at UK HealthCare recently became the first ever to perform two specific procedures together as a bridge to lung transplantation.
Wanda Craig of Lexington is the first patient in history to receive these procedures, and at the age of 68, she is also the oldest living human to be bridged to transplant using an artificial lung device, also known as an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
For more than 10 years, Craig has been treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema, getting oxygen assistance on an almost continual basis. In November 2010, her condition worsened and she was unable to do her usual everyday activities.
“I realized that things were really taking a turn for the worst when I was so out of breath from walking to the kitchen and didn’t have enough energy to even scoop ice cream out of the carton,” said Craig.
After being hospitalized and then transferred to the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital due to the severity of her case, Craig underwent the ECMO and heart procedures that saved her life.
“I feel like a miracle,” Craig said. “I feel like I owe so much to UK and the medical staff here.”
And a miracle she is – in more ways than one.
“Mrs. Craig, although treated for COPD and emphysema, actually suffered from pulmonary hypertension and when her situation became more severe that caused the right half of her heart to fail as the heart tried to work harder to get the oxygen it needed,” said Dr. Charles Hoopes, UK HealthCare’s new director of the UK Heart and Lung Transplant Program and the director of the Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Program. “When the right side of the heart fails — called right ventricular failure — the blood cannot go through the lungs to fill the left side of the heart…with an empty left side of the heart there is less blood to pump to the body and the patient develops heart failure symptoms. This is not uncommon in end-stage lung disease.”
This is a major complication for many patients on the lung transplant waiting list. So, to circumvent this problem, Hoopes and Dr. Enrique Diaz, UK’s medical director of the lung transplant program, completed a procedure called an atrial septostomy, in which a small hole is created between the upper two chambers of the heart. This procedure, combined with the use of an ECMO, allowed the blood to receive oxygen from an artificial lung device.
“These procedures are novel in terms of a bridge to transplantation, and the use of an artificial lung together with an atrial septostomy for cases of respiratory and right ventricular failure have not been performed together until now,” said Diaz.
“I immediately felt better the morning after my surgery and was able to walk 75 feet after less than 24 hours,” said Craig.
After only three days after the initial procedure, a new set of lungs became available for Craig and she underwent a double lung transplant.
“Because of her age, we were apprehensive about the ECMO procedure and lung transplant, however she proved to us that she is not the typical 68-year-old woman,” Hoopes said.
Proudly boasting about her two children, 3 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, Craig said they were her motivation to keep going and try and get better as fast as possible.
After being discharged from the hospital, Wanda and her husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and said that this experience has brought them closer together and helped their entire family appreciate the life and time they have together. After spending several holidays in the hospital over the past eight months, she is thankful she was able to be home for her milestone anniversary.
“More than anything I am looking forward to doing those normal everyday things like going to the grocery store and watching my grandson’s T-ball games,” Craig said. “And scooping my own ice cream. I could not have made it through this without the support and prayers from my family and friends.
“The care given to me while in the hospital was superb, and I’m thankful for my pulmonary physician that transferred me to UK HealthCare before it was too late for any lifesaving efforts. I’m also thankful for my donor family. I would not be here today without the knowledge of Dr. Hoopes and Dr. Diaz, and the entire transplant team. They took me under their wings in spite of all the risk involved – I will be in their debt the rest of my life.”
From UKNow
UK healthcare surgeons first to perform novel procedure for transplant patient
Saturday, October 29, 2011
COPD Awareness Month in November
COPD Awareness Month in November
We're gearing up for COPD Awareness Month in November with numerous activities and news to share with you!
First, we discuss our support of DRIVE4COPD's Great American Screen Off on November 4th, as well as our "COPD Week at the ATS" from November 13th-19th, including a webinar we'll be hosting on November 16th--World COPD Day.
Other stories in this issue:
- A template that opposes Medicare spending cuts which members of the COPD community can utilize to write to their local representative.
- The U.S. COPD Coalition's Congressional Briefing in October that featured DRIVE4COPD Celebrity Ambassador Danica Patrick, who announced their "Go Orange" Resolution, declaring it the official color for COPD awareness.
We're glad that you've subscribed to receive our monthly e-Newsletters! To stay up-to-date on a daily basis, please visit us our website.
Friday, October 28, 2011
to develop an artificial lung
Martine Rothblatt, CEO of Silver Spring-based United Therapeutics, was one at Friday’s public hearing in College Park who favored Miller’s merger proposal. Rothblatt said a merger would give his company an easier time working with UMB and College Park researchers to develop an artificial lung the company is working on, and could save the company years producing one.
For Rothblatt, the scenario seemed clear — work with two “partially capable” partners, or one fully capable partner, he said.
“We can work with two partially capable partners in Baltimore and one in College Park,” Rothblatt said. “I think the job will eventually get done, but it will take longer.
That translates into 10s of thousands of lives.”
Proponents think a merger would form a top-10 research university and could drive additional research dollars to the state.
For Rothblatt, the scenario seemed clear — work with two “partially capable” partners, or one fully capable partner, he said.
“We can work with two partially capable partners in Baltimore and one in College Park,” Rothblatt said. “I think the job will eventually get done, but it will take longer.
That translates into 10s of thousands of lives.”
Proponents think a merger would form a top-10 research university and could drive additional research dollars to the state.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Man-made lungs ?
Man-made lungs
Man-made lungs are already a reality. A device called the NovaLung is being tested worldwide to help patients struck down by life-threatening asthma attacks and pneumonia, as well as those awaiting a lung transplant.The size of a CD case, it is plumbed into the body’s circulation through blood vessels in the legs. It has a high-tech membrane that filters out carbon dioxide from the blood before allowing the blood to flow back into the body, where it gets resupplied with oxygen by the lungs.
The filtering process, called gas exchange, is normally carried out by the lungs. But if they are malfunctioning, they are unable to extract the carbon dioxide and the body’s vital organs become starved of oxygen and begin to shut down. The NovaLung needs to remove only relatively small amounts of blood at a time to keep the body supplied with oxygen. It is not intended as a permanent replacement, but it could last for months, or even years, by replacing the membrane inside.
AVAILABLE: Now — the NovaLung has already been used in Britain.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2052995/Eyelids-ovaries-Bionic-spare-parts-new-lease-life.html#ixzz1bu3Yf0U4
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
CHEST medical journal
CHEST
The official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). For specialists in pulmonology, critical care, sleep medicine, thoracic surgery, cardiorespiratory interactions, and related disciplines.
The official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). For specialists in pulmonology, critical care, sleep medicine, thoracic surgery, cardiorespiratory interactions, and related disciplines.
visit this website for more info on pulmonary info / data Chest medical Journals
http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/
New meds for COPD coming ?
Tobacco consumption such as cigarette smoking is already known to cause a number of negative impacts on health as well as diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The COPD is a severe health condition along with chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The disease sufferers are likely to experience complications in breathing and depend on artificial supply of oxygen. Countless people die because of the disease, across the world.
Simultaneously, the study pinpointed attributes of an enzyme nitric oxide syntheses and claimed that iNOS is empowered to fluctuate levels of blood pressure and can introduce some deviations in pulmonary blood vessels to cause emphysema.
“It’s a very well designed study executed to a high technical standard but we need to have some serious reservations about translation to humans”, explained an expert from the University of Melbourne’s Lung Disease Research Group, Professor Gary Anderson, while hailing people to be cautious.
In addition, Professor Anderson claimed that scientists are looking forward to generate a new medication that can be used to improve the health condition of emphysema sufferers. He also emphasized on the need of more research to estimate its impact on humans and notified that mice are blessed with higher capacity for regeneration, unfortunately humans lack this ability.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
about me and this artificial lung blog
I have severe emphysema from smoking for over 40 years, that's why I created this blog.
My hope is to collect any and all info on progress made toward a artificial lung.
Some of the data you may have seen before, but I am only trying to promote wider research on using artificial lung as an option fro lung diseases.
Emphysema is a progressive disease I am am praying that some day I will be able to get an artificial lung.
My hope is to collect any and all info on progress made toward a artificial lung.
Some of the data you may have seen before, but I am only trying to promote wider research on using artificial lung as an option fro lung diseases.
Emphysema is a progressive disease I am am praying that some day I will be able to get an artificial lung.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Lab-Grown Lungs ?
A rat lung today, a human one tomorrow
Lab-Grown Lungs
Biomedical engineers have built many types of human organs in the lab, but, until recently, they've lagged on lung tissue. Two studies last year demonstrated very different approaches to the process. One research team has grown an artificial lung from harvested rat lung tissue and successfully implanted the new lung into a live rat.
According to Nature.com, "the study provides proof of principle that such regenerated tissue may one day be used to treat patients with serious lung disorders." Another research team has created a different kind of lab-built lung, called lung-on-a-chip, that mimics a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. The device, made using human lung and blood vessel cells, acts similar to a lung in a human body and is intended to be used as an in vitro model system for testing drugs or the toxic effects of a variety of substances without the use of animal models. Both lab-grown versions of lungs could one day serve as a way to sidestep animal testing and organ transplantation.
Researchers successfully grew a rat lung in a laboratory.
A rat lung today, a human one tomorrow
see more info on A rat lung today, a human one tomorrow
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/sep/01/rat-lung-today-human-one-tomorrow/
Lab-Grown Lungs
Biomedical engineers have built many types of human organs in the lab, but, until recently, they've lagged on lung tissue. Two studies last year demonstrated very different approaches to the process. One research team has grown an artificial lung from harvested rat lung tissue and successfully implanted the new lung into a live rat.
According to Nature.com, "the study provides proof of principle that such regenerated tissue may one day be used to treat patients with serious lung disorders." Another research team has created a different kind of lab-built lung, called lung-on-a-chip, that mimics a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. The device, made using human lung and blood vessel cells, acts similar to a lung in a human body and is intended to be used as an in vitro model system for testing drugs or the toxic effects of a variety of substances without the use of animal models. Both lab-grown versions of lungs could one day serve as a way to sidestep animal testing and organ transplantation.
Researchers successfully grew a rat lung in a laboratory.
A rat lung today, a human one tomorrow
see more info on A rat lung today, a human one tomorrow
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/sep/01/rat-lung-today-human-one-tomorrow/
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
old wooden lungs
old wooden lungs were used in the 40's
Remembering the 'wooden lung': A retired respiratory therapist gave an educational presentation in Ishpeming Sunday on the Upper Peninsula polio outbreak of 1940
Remembering the 'wooden lung': A retired respiratory therapist gave an educational presentation in Ishpeming Sunday on the Upper Peninsula polio outbreak of 1940
Thursday, September 15, 2011
BREATHE ARIZONA! FREEDOM FROM SMOKING!
FREEDOM FROM SMOKING
Did you know:
Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death worldwide and smoking-related diseases claim over 393,000 American lives each year?
Smoking cost the United States over $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health care expenditures, or an average of $4,260 per adult smoker?
If these statistics affect you or your workplace then you need to know more about the American Lung Association’s gold standard program, Freedom From Smoking®. Arizona is now offering Freedom From Smoking® in a variety of formats:
Freedom From Smoking® Online*, or FFS Online, is a program specifically designed for adults who want to quit smoking. It is accessible day or night, seven days a week, and has a series of lessons and modules to follow, many of which also come with an assignment.
Freedom From Smoking® In-Person Clinic* delivered by the American Lung Association provides a trained and certified Freedom From Smoking® facilitator who will implement the eight week course at your location and work with your audience to become smoke free. The facilitator will also coordinate the logistics of the clinics on your behalf.
Freedom From Smoking® Workplace Wellness* is delivered by your organization which allows you to send representatives to the certified facilitator training and become equipped to implement the 8 week course at any time you need it. The facilitator and workplace receive a certification that is good for three years.
UPCOMING FACILITATOR TRAINING*! SIGN UP TODAY!
October 26th & 27th (1 ½ days)
102 W. McDowell Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Register at 602-429-0009 or smortenson@Lungarizona.org.
Did you know:
Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death worldwide and smoking-related diseases claim over 393,000 American lives each year?
Smoking cost the United States over $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health care expenditures, or an average of $4,260 per adult smoker?
If these statistics affect you or your workplace then you need to know more about the American Lung Association’s gold standard program, Freedom From Smoking®. Arizona is now offering Freedom From Smoking® in a variety of formats:
Freedom From Smoking® Online*, or FFS Online, is a program specifically designed for adults who want to quit smoking. It is accessible day or night, seven days a week, and has a series of lessons and modules to follow, many of which also come with an assignment.
Freedom From Smoking® In-Person Clinic* delivered by the American Lung Association provides a trained and certified Freedom From Smoking® facilitator who will implement the eight week course at your location and work with your audience to become smoke free. The facilitator will also coordinate the logistics of the clinics on your behalf.
Freedom From Smoking® Workplace Wellness* is delivered by your organization which allows you to send representatives to the certified facilitator training and become equipped to implement the 8 week course at any time you need it. The facilitator and workplace receive a certification that is good for three years.
UPCOMING FACILITATOR TRAINING*! SIGN UP TODAY!
October 26th & 27th (1 ½ days)
102 W. McDowell Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Register at 602-429-0009 or smortenson@Lungarizona.org.
artificial airway implaned
MIT bioengineer to share medical prize
Robert Langer, the prolific MIT bioengineer whose work on tissue engineering and drug delivery has spawned many patents and local companies, will share the $250,000 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, for contributions in biomedical research.
Carpentier successfully implanted an artificial airway to save the lung of a cancer patient.
Langer, who has built blood vessels from scratch and helped create an implantable wafer to deliver chemotherapy in the brain, shares the award with Alain Carpentier, a cardiovascular surgeon at the Hopital Européen Georges Pompidou in Paris. Carpentier successfully implanted an artificial airway to save the lung of a cancer patient.
The prize was created by Warren Alpert, a philanthropist dedicated to research that improves human health. Winners are selected by a scientific advisory board, which is chaired by Jeffrey S. Flier, the dean of Harvard Medical School.
It’s just the latest honor for Langer, who earlier this summer won the Priestley Medal, a top honor in chemistry.
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff
click to read the complete article on this transplant
http://www.boston.com/Boston/whitecoatnotes/2011/09/mit-bioengineer-share-medical-prize/OvPCGN5xLSrvKwMEfYBb1J/index.html
Robert Langer, the prolific MIT bioengineer whose work on tissue engineering and drug delivery has spawned many patents and local companies, will share the $250,000 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, for contributions in biomedical research.
Carpentier successfully implanted an artificial airway to save the lung of a cancer patient.
Langer, who has built blood vessels from scratch and helped create an implantable wafer to deliver chemotherapy in the brain, shares the award with Alain Carpentier, a cardiovascular surgeon at the Hopital Européen Georges Pompidou in Paris. Carpentier successfully implanted an artificial airway to save the lung of a cancer patient.
The prize was created by Warren Alpert, a philanthropist dedicated to research that improves human health. Winners are selected by a scientific advisory board, which is chaired by Jeffrey S. Flier, the dean of Harvard Medical School.
It’s just the latest honor for Langer, who earlier this summer won the Priestley Medal, a top honor in chemistry.
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff
click to read the complete article on this transplant
http://www.boston.com/Boston/whitecoatnotes/2011/09/mit-bioengineer-share-medical-prize/OvPCGN5xLSrvKwMEfYBb1J/index.html
Friday, August 12, 2011
artificial organs are being developed
artificial organs are being developed
How advanced are other artificial parts?
A good demonstration of the power of protheses is on display in the lower limbs of Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who has just run 400 metres fast enough to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. "Blade Runner", as Pistorius is known, has no legs from mid-calf down, and runs on carbon-fibre blades. His prosthetic legs were ruled to be acceptable for general competition by the IAAF, which said the legs did not give him an unfair advantage.
In medicine, prosthetic hearts have led the way for decades, although other artificial organs are being developed. A medical device firm called MC3 is currently testing a total artificial lung for submission to the Food and Drug Administration in the US. The device is designed to replace carbon dioxide in the blood with oxygen, using the heart's own pumping power.
Artificial livers are in the pipeline, too, although the technical challenges behind creating a whole, mechanical organ mean that most progress has come through growing liver tissue in the lab. Any artificial lung or liver currently in development is designed to be a "bridge to transplant".
click to see the complete article on artificial organs by Hal Hodson
How advanced are other artificial parts?
A good demonstration of the power of protheses is on display in the lower limbs of Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who has just run 400 metres fast enough to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. "Blade Runner", as Pistorius is known, has no legs from mid-calf down, and runs on carbon-fibre blades. His prosthetic legs were ruled to be acceptable for general competition by the IAAF, which said the legs did not give him an unfair advantage.
In medicine, prosthetic hearts have led the way for decades, although other artificial organs are being developed. A medical device firm called MC3 is currently testing a total artificial lung for submission to the Food and Drug Administration in the US. The device is designed to replace carbon dioxide in the blood with oxygen, using the heart's own pumping power.
Artificial livers are in the pipeline, too, although the technical challenges behind creating a whole, mechanical organ mean that most progress has come through growing liver tissue in the lab. Any artificial lung or liver currently in development is designed to be a "bridge to transplant".
click to see the complete article on artificial organs by Hal Hodson
Video: Artificial Lung May Save Lives During Surgeries
Artificial Lung May Save Lives During Surgeries
Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, principal investigator for tissue engineering at the Draper Labs, discusses a 1/100 scale prototype of an artificial lung under development by the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology.
click to watch a brief video of this artificial ling
http://www.designnews.com/video.asp?section_id=1375&doc_id=
MEMS-Enabled Artificial Lung
MEMS-Enabled Artificial Lung
In a pioneering approach to artificial organ development, engineers at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., are applying semiconductor manufacturing technology to the development of artificial organs such as lungs and kidneys.
Intricate internal structures produced via micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are being tested as vascular systems that could oxygenate a person's blood during surgery. They also could function down the road as part of an implantable device.
"This is important because oxygenators currently used during heart surgery use a significant amount of anticoagulants," says Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, principal investigator in the tissue engineering research being conducted at Draper.
Most artificial lung devices used today consist of hollow, porous fiber bundles inside a hard-shelled jacket. Oxygen is introduced through the fibers and diffused into blood flowing around the fibers. This process often damages the blood for maximum membrane exposure.
Adverse interactions between the blood and device materials such as polyethersulfone may cause clotting. Preventing this requires a high level of anticoagulants, which can cause excessive bleeding and other problems for the patient.
Doctors at leading Boston teaching hospitals approached Borenstein and asked if Draper could research technologies to replace current oxygenating devices. The doctors were part of CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.
The idea was that microfabrication technology developed at Draper for sensors used in defense, aerospace, and commercial products such as digital cameras and the Nintendo Wii game controller might help create an artificial lung with microchannels that mimic the blood vessels in human organs.
The blood-side passages in current hollow fiber lung devices are 200-300 microns in diameter, compared with the 5-10 microns for a capillary. MEMS technology allows the creation of channels that are closer in size to the blood vessels found naturally in organs.
The result of Draper's work is a 1/100 scale prototype device that functions like a human lung. Blood enters and is infiltrated with oxygen in a microvascular network before exiting.
The basic techniques borrowed from semiconductor manufacturing are deposition of material layers, patterning by photolithography, and etching to produce the required shapes. "That's basically a planar process. The two big challenges we had were transferring from two-dimensional to three-dimensional and from inorganic silicon to medical-grade polymers," Borenstein says.
His team is using structures made of silicone rubber in the current prototype. They provide the mechanical strength and flexibility required for the device.
To become implantable, the device would need bioresorbable materials. Those materials would be engineered into a tissue scaffold, which would be seeded with a person's own stem cells and grown into a kidney, a lung, or some other organ. The bioresorbable polymer would disappear after the structure was formed.
Borenstein's work is important in the field of tissue engineering because larger organs such as kidneys and livers require intensive internal vascular structures. But that stage is well down the road.
"Our work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, and for the next phase of development [a device used outside the human body], we are looking for commercial partners," he says. Completion of that phase is very feasible within the next several years, in Borenstein's view.
Other research groups around the world are focusing on other aspects of developing artificial lungs. For example, researchers in Cleveland have developed a prototype artificial lung that functions with air, just like human lungs.
Charles Stark Draper, an aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, formed a lab in the late 1930s to develop instruments to measure aircraft motion. The lab was later named after Draper, and its work advanced to include missile guidance systems, space exploration, advance robotic technologies, and tissue engineering. The lab was spun out of MIT in 1973.
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=232240&f_src=designnews_gnews
click to see a short video amd more info on this approach for a artificial lung
In a pioneering approach to artificial organ development, engineers at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., are applying semiconductor manufacturing technology to the development of artificial organs such as lungs and kidneys.
Intricate internal structures produced via micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are being tested as vascular systems that could oxygenate a person's blood during surgery. They also could function down the road as part of an implantable device.
"This is important because oxygenators currently used during heart surgery use a significant amount of anticoagulants," says Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, principal investigator in the tissue engineering research being conducted at Draper.
Most artificial lung devices used today consist of hollow, porous fiber bundles inside a hard-shelled jacket. Oxygen is introduced through the fibers and diffused into blood flowing around the fibers. This process often damages the blood for maximum membrane exposure.
Adverse interactions between the blood and device materials such as polyethersulfone may cause clotting. Preventing this requires a high level of anticoagulants, which can cause excessive bleeding and other problems for the patient.
Doctors at leading Boston teaching hospitals approached Borenstein and asked if Draper could research technologies to replace current oxygenating devices. The doctors were part of CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.
The idea was that microfabrication technology developed at Draper for sensors used in defense, aerospace, and commercial products such as digital cameras and the Nintendo Wii game controller might help create an artificial lung with microchannels that mimic the blood vessels in human organs.
The blood-side passages in current hollow fiber lung devices are 200-300 microns in diameter, compared with the 5-10 microns for a capillary. MEMS technology allows the creation of channels that are closer in size to the blood vessels found naturally in organs.
The result of Draper's work is a 1/100 scale prototype device that functions like a human lung. Blood enters and is infiltrated with oxygen in a microvascular network before exiting.
The basic techniques borrowed from semiconductor manufacturing are deposition of material layers, patterning by photolithography, and etching to produce the required shapes. "That's basically a planar process. The two big challenges we had were transferring from two-dimensional to three-dimensional and from inorganic silicon to medical-grade polymers," Borenstein says.
His team is using structures made of silicone rubber in the current prototype. They provide the mechanical strength and flexibility required for the device.
To become implantable, the device would need bioresorbable materials. Those materials would be engineered into a tissue scaffold, which would be seeded with a person's own stem cells and grown into a kidney, a lung, or some other organ. The bioresorbable polymer would disappear after the structure was formed.
Borenstein's work is important in the field of tissue engineering because larger organs such as kidneys and livers require intensive internal vascular structures. But that stage is well down the road.
"Our work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, and for the next phase of development [a device used outside the human body], we are looking for commercial partners," he says. Completion of that phase is very feasible within the next several years, in Borenstein's view.
Other research groups around the world are focusing on other aspects of developing artificial lungs. For example, researchers in Cleveland have developed a prototype artificial lung that functions with air, just like human lungs.
Charles Stark Draper, an aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, formed a lab in the late 1930s to develop instruments to measure aircraft motion. The lab was later named after Draper, and its work advanced to include missile guidance systems, space exploration, advance robotic technologies, and tissue engineering. The lab was spun out of MIT in 1973.
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=232240&f_src=designnews_gnews
click to see a short video amd more info on this approach for a artificial lung
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
new research in intelligent artificial lungs
Welsh government funds new research in intelligent artificial lungs
Swansea University is looking to develop the world's first intelligent artificial lung, thanks to new government funding.
The device is scheduled for clinical trials in two years and will allow those with low breathing functions and lung diseases to breathe properly and comfortably.
Swansea University is looking to develop the world's first intelligent artificial lung, thanks to new government funding.
The device is scheduled for clinical trials in two years and will allow those with low breathing functions and lung diseases to breathe properly and comfortably.
when an intelligent artificial lung will be available
when an intelligent artificial lung will be available
SCIENTISTS are developing the world’s first intelligent artificial lung which could help patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.
The device, which is just two years away from starting clinical trials, will be able to breathe for people who have lost most of their lung function.
Swansea University, which is collaborating with Haemair Ltd to develop the artificial lung, has been awarded a Welsh Government grant to undertake further vital work on the project.
The device is the brainchild of biochemical engineer Professor Bill Johns, managing director of Haemair, which is based in Swansea.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/08/08/senedd-to-fund-work-on-intelligent-artificial-lung-91466-29194589/#ixzz1UYHPgHvj
Welsh Government to fund work on intelligent artificial lung - Wales News - News from @walesonline
SCIENTISTS are developing the world’s first intelligent artificial lung which could help patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.
The device, which is just two years away from starting clinical trials, will be able to breathe for people who have lost most of their lung function.
Swansea University, which is collaborating with Haemair Ltd to develop the artificial lung, has been awarded a Welsh Government grant to undertake further vital work on the project.
The device is the brainchild of biochemical engineer Professor Bill Johns, managing director of Haemair, which is based in Swansea.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/08/08/senedd-to-fund-work-on-intelligent-artificial-lung-91466-29194589/#ixzz1UYHPgHvj
Welsh Government to fund work on intelligent artificial lung - Wales News - News from @walesonline
Monday, August 8, 2011
Bi-Caval Dual Lumen Catheter
The Bi-Caval Dual Lumen Catheter is the world's first percutaneous, single site, kink resistant, veno-venous device designed to enable optimal extracorporeal life support.
The
Advantage
quick animation for using this new lung technology
see more specs at..
http://downloads.avalonlabs.com/downloads/pdf/BiCaval_DL_Product_Sheet.pdf
The
Advantage - Large family of sizes broadens clinical application for neonate, pediatric, and adult patients
- Inserted into the Internal Jugular Vein this patented device is able to match the body's natural flow ratios by simultaneously removing blood from both the SVC and IVC and returning blood to the Right Atrium.
- The catheter's outer diameter is tapered with a smaller tip to ease vessel insertion
- The deflectable inner membrane enables a single piece dual lumen design
- Constructed with an exclusive material which combines the durability of polyurethane and the flexibility and biostability of silicone
- Radiopaque to assist in catheter insertion and placement
quick animation for using this new lung technology
see more specs at..
http://downloads.avalonlabs.com/downloads/pdf/BiCaval_DL_Product_Sheet.pdf
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Respiratory Aids Which ‘Mimic’ Healthy Lungs
Respiratory Aids Which ‘Mimic’ Healthy Lungs
Wales: Industry Partnership To Engineer Respiratory Aids Which ‘Mimic’ Healthy Lungs
The project, entitled the Development of responsive control systems for an artificial lung, which will allow immobile patients with lung disease to enjoy a better quality of life, has been supported by a £215k grant through the Welsh Government’s Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) programme.
Academics from the University’s College of Engineering have joined forces with Swansea-based companies Haemair Ltd, Haemaflow Ltd, DTR Medical Ltd, and Staffordshire-based EGS Technologies Ltd.
The work builds on the collaboration between the University and the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, which has established Swansea as a major centre in the understanding of blood and its properties.
The project’s director Dr Michael Lewis, Senior Lecturer at Swansea University, said,
“Lung disease is a major problem that affects a large number of people, particularly in Wales. Although Extracorporeal Life Support systems – or artificial lungs – can support immobile patients with lung disease, these devices restrict patients to high-dependency units in hospitals.
“This innovative project aims to develop a prototype small-scale respiratory aid, which is capable of regulating blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal, in response to patients’ different metabolic requirements – ultimately allowing them to enjoy a better quality of life.”
Edwina Hart, Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science described the project as a prime example of the highly innovative collaborative research and development activities taking place in Welsh universities.
“This device has the potential to have a real impact on the lives of many people while the collaboration supports local business. In the longer term, high profile projects of this calibre can help promote the capabilities of Welsh universities and research centres internationally.”
The project has two closely related aims, both of which relate primarily to blood oxygenation by direct blood/air mass exchange.
The first aim is to develop an automated control system for a respiratory aid, which is capable of modifying blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal, in order to meet the changing requirements of active patients.
The second aim is to study the distribution of blood flow through small-scale prototype respiratory aids.
In contrast to existing devices, the aim is to produce a respiratory aid that does not set pre-specified blood gas compositions. Instead, this innovation will adjust gas compositions to changing metabolic demands.
“The project will enable respiratory aids to mimic the performance of healthy lungs,” added Dr Michael Kingsley, Senior Lecturer and Research Supervisor on the project.
“This will mean in future, patients with lung disease will no longer be restricted to being treated within high-dependency units.”
Professor P Rhodri Williams leads the team from the University’s Complex Fluids group, which will study the detailed blood flow pattern within the device.
He said,
“A deeper understanding of these flows is needed both to maximise the controllability of the device and to minimise the risk of blood clots forming in the device. This study has wider applications to other medical devices that contact blood.”
Professor Bill Johns of Haemair Ltd said: “This project builds on five years of fruitful collaboration between Haemair, Swansea University and Professor Adrian Evans and his colleagues at the Morriston Hospital. A successful outcome should help us ensure both the safety and effectiveness of our artificial lung.”
Dr Dale Rogers of Haemaflow Ltd said,
“The work will provide an ideal test bed for the company’s novel instruments for measuring blood gases. The instruments will help the project and the project will give Haemaflow the experience to evolve designs for a wide range of potential applications in Medicine and Sports Science.”
The project is currently seeking volunteers to take part in the cardiovascular assessment stage of the research. Participants will need to be aged between 18 and 58 years and generally healthy, with no history of cardiovascular problems.
Participation will involve visiting the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at Swansea University on four separate occasions for a complete cardio respiratory assessment. All volunteers will be provided with copies of their results.
Source: click to learn more on this progress toward a artifival lung
Wales: Industry Partnership To Engineer Respiratory Aids Which ‘Mimic’ Healthy Lungs
A collaborative two-year project between Swansea University’s College of Engineering and industry is helping to develop respiratory aids which mimic the performance of healthy lungs.
Academics from the University’s College of Engineering have joined forces with Swansea-based companies Haemair Ltd, Haemaflow Ltd, DTR Medical Ltd, and Staffordshire-based EGS Technologies Ltd.
The work builds on the collaboration between the University and the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, which has established Swansea as a major centre in the understanding of blood and its properties.
The project’s director Dr Michael Lewis, Senior Lecturer at Swansea University, said,
“Lung disease is a major problem that affects a large number of people, particularly in Wales. Although Extracorporeal Life Support systems – or artificial lungs – can support immobile patients with lung disease, these devices restrict patients to high-dependency units in hospitals.
“This innovative project aims to develop a prototype small-scale respiratory aid, which is capable of regulating blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal, in response to patients’ different metabolic requirements – ultimately allowing them to enjoy a better quality of life.”
Edwina Hart, Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science described the project as a prime example of the highly innovative collaborative research and development activities taking place in Welsh universities.
“This device has the potential to have a real impact on the lives of many people while the collaboration supports local business. In the longer term, high profile projects of this calibre can help promote the capabilities of Welsh universities and research centres internationally.”
The project has two closely related aims, both of which relate primarily to blood oxygenation by direct blood/air mass exchange.
The first aim is to develop an automated control system for a respiratory aid, which is capable of modifying blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide removal, in order to meet the changing requirements of active patients.
The second aim is to study the distribution of blood flow through small-scale prototype respiratory aids.
In contrast to existing devices, the aim is to produce a respiratory aid that does not set pre-specified blood gas compositions. Instead, this innovation will adjust gas compositions to changing metabolic demands.
“The project will enable respiratory aids to mimic the performance of healthy lungs,” added Dr Michael Kingsley, Senior Lecturer and Research Supervisor on the project.
“This will mean in future, patients with lung disease will no longer be restricted to being treated within high-dependency units.”
Professor P Rhodri Williams leads the team from the University’s Complex Fluids group, which will study the detailed blood flow pattern within the device.
He said,
“A deeper understanding of these flows is needed both to maximise the controllability of the device and to minimise the risk of blood clots forming in the device. This study has wider applications to other medical devices that contact blood.”
Professor Bill Johns of Haemair Ltd said: “This project builds on five years of fruitful collaboration between Haemair, Swansea University and Professor Adrian Evans and his colleagues at the Morriston Hospital. A successful outcome should help us ensure both the safety and effectiveness of our artificial lung.”
Dr Dale Rogers of Haemaflow Ltd said,
“The work will provide an ideal test bed for the company’s novel instruments for measuring blood gases. The instruments will help the project and the project will give Haemaflow the experience to evolve designs for a wide range of potential applications in Medicine and Sports Science.”
The project is currently seeking volunteers to take part in the cardiovascular assessment stage of the research. Participants will need to be aged between 18 and 58 years and generally healthy, with no history of cardiovascular problems.
Participation will involve visiting the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at Swansea University on four separate occasions for a complete cardio respiratory assessment. All volunteers will be provided with copies of their results.
Source: click to learn more on this progress toward a artifival lung
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