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1、NEWSFEATUREWiththousandsofpeopleinneedofhearttransplants,researchersaretryingtogrowneworgans.HEARTHOWTOBUILDABYBRENDANMAHERorisTaylordoesn’ttakeitasaninsultwhenpeoplelungsmeansgettingdozensofcelltypesintoexactlytherightpositions,callherDrFrankenstein.“
2、ItwasactuallyoneoftheandsimultaneouslygrowingcompletenetworksofbloodvesselstokeepbiggercomplimentsI’vegotten,”shesays—anaffir-themalive.Theneworgansmustbesterile,abletogrowifthepatientmationthatherresearchispushingtheboundariesofisyoung,andatleastnomin
3、allyabletorepairthemselves.Mostimpor-Dthepossible.Giventhenatureofherworkasdirectortantly,theyhavetowork—ideally,foralifetime.TheheartisthethirdofregenerativemedicineresearchattheTexasHeartmostneededorganafterthekidneyandtheliver,withawaitinglistofInst
4、ituteinHouston,Taylorhastoadmitthatthecomparisonisapt.Sheabout3,500intheUnitedStatesalone,butitposesextrachallengesforregularlyharvestsorganssuchasheartsandlungsfromthenewlydead,transplantationandbioengineering.Theheartmustbeatconstantlytore-engineerst
5、hemstartingfromthecellsandattemptstobringthempumpsome7,000litresofbloodperdaywithoutaback-up.Ithascham-backtolifeinthehopethattheymightbeatorbreatheagainintheliving.bersandvalvesconstructedfromseveraldifferenttypesofspecializedTaylorisinthevanguardofre
6、searcherslookingtoengineerentirenewmusclecellscalledcardiomyocytes.Anddonorheartsarerare,becauseorgans,toenabletransplantswithouttheriskofrejectionbytherecipient’stheyareoftendamagedbydiseaseorresuscitationefforts,soasteadyimmunesystem.Thestrategyissim
7、pleenoughinprinciple.Firstremovesupplyofbioengineeredorganswouldbewelcome.allthecellsfromadeadorgan—itdoesnotevenhavetobefromahumanTaylor,wholedsomeofthefirstsuccessfulexperimentstobuildrat1—thentaketheproteinscaffoldleftbehindandrepopulateitwithstemhe
8、arts,isoptimisticaboutthisultimatechallengeintissueengineering.cellsimmunologicallymatchedtothepatientinneed.Voilà!Thecrippling“Ithinkit’seminentlydoable,”shesays,quicklyadding,“Idon’tthinkshortageoftransplantableorgansaroundtheworldiss
