Comment by Diane Kachel on June 12, 2009 at 4:20pm
Hi, John
Thanks for posting the article on "fixing the lungs outside the body." I had not seen this article yet and have passed it onto others from the University of Minnesota Center for Lung Science and Health that are potentially interested in this topic as well - to either repair injured lung and/or rebuild/build lungs for transplantation. One of our joint faculty members, Angela Panoskaltis-Mortari, PhD, just recently chaired a symposium at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference held in San Diego last month entitled, "Bioengineering for Lung Diseases: Can we Rebuild the Lung? Andrew Price from her lab was a travel reward recipient at this year's annual conference for his oral research abstract presentation on "Decellularized Lung as a 3-D Matrix for Bioengineering of the Lung." Doris Taylor, PhD, from the University of Minnesota recently made national/international news for her pioneering work in using a decellularized animal heart as the scaffolding upon which she was able to essentially rebuild a functioning heart. To read more about this, you can go to: http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/Researchers_create_a_new_heart_in_the_lab.html
The work that is currently being done in research is truly amazing - beyond what I am sure most dreamed possible. Takes time, hard work, interdisciplinary expertise, money etc but progress is definitely being made! Diane
In Durham, NC groups from transplant professionals, our local OPO and and transplant patients and their families including those who have lost loved ones to chronic rejection and infection are in the process of creating The Lung Transplant Foundation dedicated to research into some of our common killers. I will update as the process unfolds. This will be a national organization.
I reccomend two books: "Sick Girl Speaks" and
The Power of Two: A Twin Triumph over Cystic Fibrosis
Isabel Stenzel Byrnes
and Anabel Stenzel
ISBN 978-0-8262-1754-7
312 pages
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