Growing Blood Vessels John Rawls

Regenerative Medicine The process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore or establish normal function Growing tissues and organs in a lab Implant in body successfully Could solve the problem of organ transplant rejection and the shortage of organs Stem Cells

Polyethylene Glycol Also called PEG and Carbowax Nontoxic plastic Scientists modify PEG to mimic the body’s extracellular matrix Combined with two types of cells required of blood vessel formation Creates hydrogels filled with living cells and growth factors

The Result Cells are tagged with fluorescent markers Created capillaries and vessels Successfully implanted in mice Normal blood flow recorded

What is to become? Current method of creating blood vessels takes too much time Other ways to create blood vessels and capillaries are being researched “Two-photon liphography” Allows more control

Refrences http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/01/12/biomedical.breakthrough.blood.vessels.lab.grown.tissues http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112080910.htm http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2011/0202sp_vessels.shtml http://www.futuremedicine.com/loi/rme http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_medicine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol http://sojor.net/photoUploads/User1309196521.jpg