X-Message-Number: 22342
From: "Igor Artyuhov" <>
References: <>

Subject: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Developing New Ways To Store Tissue, Organs
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 16:55:53 +0400

Source:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/08/030813071518.htm
Carnegie Mellon University
Date:  2003-08-13


Carnegie Mellon Researchers Developing New Ways To Store Tissue, Organs

PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Mellon University's Yoed Rabin and Paul Steif have
received $1.3 million over the next four years from the National Institutes
of Health to develop more efficient ways of storing transplant tissue and
organs in cryogenic temperatures. Mechanical Engineering professors Rabin
and Steif are working to improve techniques of cryopreservation, the process
of storing biological materials in extremely low temperatures.

"Our long-term goal is to reduce the destructive mechanical stresses induced
during the cryopreservation of organs and tissues of a significant size,"
said Rabin, who specializes in heat transfer in biological systems.

"It is a little bit like watching an ice cube break up in a glass of water
and trying to figure out what made the ice fracture and devise ways to
prevent it from cracking," Rabin said.

Both Rabin and Steif are charged with developing engineering tools to
monitor when these breakups are likely to occur and develop improved methods
for storing transplant tissues such as blood vessels and heart valves, and
ultimately for life-saving organs like kidneys, lungs or the heart.

The Carnegie Mellon researchers will work with Chicago-based Organ Recovery
System, a company specializing in the clinical preservation and storage of
tissues.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Carnegie Mellon and its expert
research team," said Mike Taylor, vice president of research and development
for Organ Recovery System. Taylor said his company will provide Carnegie
Mellon researchers with their proprietary preservation technologies for
blood vessel systems to test and study the thermal stresses during
cryopreservation.

At present, clinicians are able to store embryos, sperm and stem cells in
freezers, but Carnegie Mellon researchers want to develop systems for the
safe storage of more complex tissues and organs, which could offer a
significant breakthrough in the treatment of diseases and perhaps broaden
the cache of transplant organs available to an increasing number of
patients. As of August 1, 2003, 82,129 people nationwide were waiting for an
organ transplant compared with 53,167 in 1997, according to the Richmond,
Va.-based United Network for Organ Sharing. In addition, new preservation
technology emerging from this basic research will be important as an
enabling technology for the emerging disciplines of tissue engineering and
regenerative medicine that seek to replace damaged or diseased tissues with
new living material.

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