Bioengineered veins offer new hope on horizon for patients lacking healthy veins for coronary bypass surgery or dialysis

More than 500,000 patients could potentially benefit from this new technology each year

2011-02-03

(Press-News.org) VIDEO: In this newly published research by scientists at Humacyte Inc., Duke, East Carolina and Yale universities, bioengineered veins are generated by culturing human cells in a bioreactor to form a...
Click here for more information.

The research was conducted by scientists from Duke University, East Carolina University, Yale University, and Humacyte, and was funded by Humacyte, a leader in regenerative medicine. Overseeing the research and senior author of the article was Laura Niklason, M.D., Ph.D., founder of Humacyte, and Professor of Anesthesiology and of Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. Niklason is a recognized authority in regenerative medicine for arterial engineering and was leader of the team that recently created a functioning rat lung in a laboratory.

“Not only are bioengineered veins available at the time of patient need, but the ability to generate a significant number of grafts from a cell bank will allow for a reduction in the final production costs, as compared to other regenerative medicine strategies,” added lead author Shannon L. M. Dahl, Senior Director of Scientific Operations and Co-Founder of Humacyte, Inc. “While there is still considerable research to be done before a product is available for widespread use, we are highly encouraged by the results outlined in this paper and eager to move forward with additional study,” Dahl said.

About The Research

In this research, bioengineered veins were generated in a bioreactor, decellularized, and stored up to 12 months in refrigerated conditions. Then bioengineered veins (3-6mm in diameter) demonstrated excellent blood flow and resistance to occlusion in large animal models for up to one year.

INFORMATION:

About Humacyte

Humacyte , a privately held company, is primarily focused on developing products for vascular disease and for dermal filling and soft tissue repair. The company uses its innovative and proprietary platform technology to engineer human, extracellular matrix-based tissues that can be shaped into tubes, sheets, or particulate conformations, with properties similar to native tissues. These can then be used in many specific applications, with the potential to significantly improve treatment outcomes for a variety of patients, including those with diabetes and on hemodialysis. The company's proprietary technologies are designed to result in off-the-shelf products that can be utilized in any patient. The company Web site is www.humacyte.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Information in this news release contains “forward-looking statements” about Humacyte. These statements, including statements regarding management’s projections relating to future results and operations, are based on, among other things, management’s views, assumptions and estimates, developed in good faith, all of which are subject to known and unknown factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Dr. Lawson has served as a consultant for Humacyte and has also received research support from the company through Duke University.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

NIH researchers identify genetic cause of new vascular disease

2011-02-03

Clinical researchers at the National Institutes of Health's Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) have identified the genetic cause of a rare and debilitating vascular disorder not previously explained in the medical literature. The adult-onset condition is associated with progressive and painful arterial calcification affecting the lower extremities, yet spares patients' coronary arteries. The new disease finding was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The rare arterial condition caused by calcium buildup in arteries below the waist and in the joints ...

Six small planets orbiting a sun-like star amaze astronomers

2011-02-03

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A remarkable planetary system discovered by NASA's Kepler mission has six planets around a Sun-like star, including five small planets in tightly packed orbits. Astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and their coauthors analyzed the orbital dynamics of the system, determined the sizes and masses of the planets, and figured out their likely compositions--all based on Kepler's measurements of the changing brightness of the host star (called Kepler-11) as the planets passed in front of it. "Not only is this an amazing planetary system, it ...

Researchers develop new framework for analyzing genetic variants

2011-02-03

Boston, MA – Advances in DNA sequencing technology have revolutionized biomedical research and taken us another step forward in personalized medicine. Now, scientists led by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School (HMS), the Broad Institute, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), the University of Washington, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, have developed a new framework for analyzing key genetic variations that previously were overlooked. The research will be published in the February 3 issue of the prestigious journal Nature. Identifying ...

The human genome's breaking points

2011-02-03

A detailed analysis of data from 185 human genomes sequenced in the course of the 1000 Genomes Project, by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, as well as the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School, both in the USA, has identified the genetic sequence of an unprecedented 28 000 structural variants (SVs) – large portions of the human genome which differ from one person to another. The work, published today in Nature, could ...

A picture-perfect pure-disc galaxy

2011-02-03

NGC 3621 is a spiral galaxy about 22 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (The Sea Snake). It is comparatively bright and can be seen well in moderate-sized telescopes. This picture was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The data were selected from the ESO archive by Joe DePasquale as part of the Hidden Treasures competition [1]. Joe's picture of NGC 3621 was ranked fourth in the competition. This galaxy has a flat pancake shape, indicating that it hasn't yet come face to face ...

Mayo researchers pinpoint how 1 cancer gene functions

2011-02-03

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- For several decades, researchers have been linking genetic mutations to diseases ranging from cancer to developmental abnormalities. What hasn't been clear, however, is how the body's genome sustains such destructive glitches in the first place. Now a team of Mayo Clinic scientists and collaborators provide an unprecedented glimpse of a little-understood gene, called MMSET, revealing how it enables disease-causing mutations to occur. The findings appear in the current issue of Nature. "MMSET had been known for many years, and had been shown to be mutated ...

Flash of fresh insight by electrical brain stimulation

2011-02-03

Are we on the verge of being able to stimulate the brain to see the world anew - an electric thinking cap? Research by Richard Chi and Allan Snyder from the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney suggests that this could be the case. They found that participants who received electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes were three times as likely to reach the fresh insight necessary to solve a difficult, unfamiliar problem than those in the control group. The study published on February 2 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE. According to the authors, ...

Children's genes influence how well they take advantage of education

2011-02-03

New research from the Twins Early Development Study at King's College London Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), published in PLoS ONE on February 2nd, shows that measures used to judge the effectiveness of schools are partly influenced by genetic factors in students. The study, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), was conducted by scientists in the UK at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's IoP, and in the US at the University of New Mexico. The assumption behind measures of school effectiveness is that changes in student performance ...

Multiple genome sequencing yields detailed map of structural variants behind our genetic differences

2011-02-03

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (2/3/2011) – Analyzing billions of pieces of genetic data collected from people around the world, Boston College biologist Gabor Marth and his research team are playing an integral role in the global effort to sequence 1000 genomes and move closer to understanding in fine detail how genetics influence human health and development. The most comprehensive map to date of genomic structural variants – the layer of our DNA that begins to distinguish us from one another – has been assembled by analyzing 185 human genomes, Marth and co-authors from the 1000 ...

Researchers identify molecular predictor of metastatic prostate cancer

2011-02-03

BOSTON—Prostate tumors that carry a "signature" of four molecular markers have the potential to become dangerously metastatic if not treated aggressively, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report in a study published online today by the journal Nature. The discovery lays the groundwork for the first gene-based test for determining whether a man's prostate cancer is likely to remain dormant within the prostate gland, or spread lethally to other parts of the body. By analyzing prostate cancer tissue from hundreds of men participating in a national health study, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

UK study shows there is less stigma against LGBTQ people than you might think, but people with mental health problems continue to experience higher levels of stigma