First Lab-Grown Human Lung

In an important development in the field of regenerative medicine, scientists grow lungs in a lab that are hoped to someday be able to replace damaged lungs in actual patients, helping thousands of people who die every year waiting on a transplant.  Joaquin Cortiella, from the University of Texas (Texas, USA), and colleagues obtained lungs from two deceased juveniles, and stripped the first lung of all of its cells – leaving just a scaffolding of elastin and collagen. Healthy cells were then taken from the second lung and applied to the scaffolding. Once thoroughly coated, the lung-to-be was placed in a glass tank full of a nutrient-rich solution where it soaked for four weeks. During that time, new cell growth filled in the scaffolding resulting in a new lung. To be sure their technique really worked, the team repeated the whole exercise with another set of lungs and found the same result.