Researchers Grow Human Lung In A Lab

By Joel Lindsey

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have successfully grown a human lung in a laboratory. This is the first time such an accomplishment has been achieved.

“It’s so darn cool,” said Joan Nichols, key member of the UTMB research team. “It’s been science fiction and we’re moving into science fact.”

According to a report published by CNN, the lungs were grown using tissue from the lungs of two children who had died from trauma, most likely a car accident. Although these lungs had been too damaged to use in a transplant, they still had some healthy tissue.

Scientists stripped away the tissue from one of the lungs, leaving behind “a scaffolding of collagen and elastin.” They then removed cells from the other lung and implanted them directly onto the scaffolding. After immersing the entire structure in a large tank filled with a nutrient-rich liquid for four weeks, a new human lung was grown.

Researchers and doctors involved with the project hope that regenerative medicine projects, like the one being pursued by UTMB, could help reduce the high and difficult-to-meet demand for transplant organs.

“Whole-organ engineering is going to work as a solution to the organ donor shortage,” said Dr. Stephen Badylak, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

UTMB researchers have successfully repeated their technique, creating another lung from the tissues of two other children who had died. While scientists report that the lab-made lungs “look very much like the real thing, just pinker, softer and less dense,” they have yet to actually test the viability of these lungs in living subjects.

UTMB’s Nichols estimates that it will take another 12 years or so of continued testing before lab-made lungs are ready for use as human implants. Before being used in humans, the researchers say they plan to test the lungs on pigs.

UTMB’s news arrived shortly after NASA announced its intention to pursue bone and muscle regeneration projects in a new partnership with GRoK Technologies.