This kind of disease modeling could have a great impact in the near term, says
MIT professor Sangeeta Bhatia, who is developing liver tissue to study hepatitis
C and malaria infection.
liver is difficult to grow outside the human body because cells tend to lose
their function when they lose contact with neighboring cells. “
In a large-scale project recently funded by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Administration, several MIT faculty members are working on a
“human-on-a-chip” system that scientists could use to study up to 10 human
tissue types at a time.
developing regenerative therapies that help promote wound healing.
Endothelial cells, normally found lining blood vessels, could help repair damage
caused by angioplasty or other surgical interventions; smoke inhalation; and
cancer or cardiovascular disease.
One of the earliest successes of implantable tissues was the development of
artificial skin, which is now commonly used to treat burn victims.
Langer is now working on more complex tissues, such as cardiac-tissue scaffolds
that include electronic sensors and a synthetic polymer that could restore
vocal-cord function in people who have lost their voices through overuse or
other types of damage
In Bhatia’s lab, where tissue-engineering research is evenly divided between
modeling diseases and working toward implantable organs, researchers recently
developed 3-D liver tissues that include their own network of blood vessels
"MIT News examines research with the potential to reshape medicine and health care through new scientific knowledge, novel treatments and products, better management of medical data, and improvements in health-care delivery. "
"MIT News examines research with the potential to reshape medicine and health care through new scientific knowledge, novel treatments and products, better management of medical data, and improvements in health-care delivery. "