News Brief by Kathryn Gibb
Researchers at the Moscow Institute
of Physics and Technology have made a discovery that could transform the
transplant world. A research team led by
Professor Konstantin Agladze worked on cardiac tissue engineering and recently found
a new way to cultivate heart tissue cells.
The researchers have used a spidroin substrate, also known as cobweb
protein, to grow the tissue cells. These
protein strands are known to be strong, flexible, and durable. Oftentimes it is difficult to find a
substrate to grow cells on, but this cobweb protein has allowed the researchers
to develop cells within three to five days that act just as living heart tissue
would. The spidroin fiber has been used in the past to grow implants like
tendons and bones, but this is the first time that they have been used to grow
cells.
Moscow Institute of Physics and
Technology. "Cardiac tissue grown on 'spider silk' substrate."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 April 2015.
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