Longevity science

MIT engineer Sangeeta Bhatia and colleagues have have identified a dozen chemical compounds that can help liver cells maintain their normal function while grown in a lab dish and also multiply to produce new tissue.

Cells grown this way could help researchers develop engineered tissue to treat many of the 500 million people suffering from chronic liver diseases such as hepatitis C, according to the researchers.

Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) researchers have engineered an artificial human liver that mimics the natural tissue environment closely.

The development makes it possible for companies to predict the toxicity of new drugs earlier, potentially speeding up the drug development process and reducing the cost of manufacturing

In what’s being called a medical first, doctors were able to keep a liver functioning outside the body and then transplant it into a patient.

The device is much better at preservation than the current method, cooling livers with ice. By extending the health of donated livers, the new device could not only increase the chances those who desperately need the organs will receive them, it could also improve the outcome of recipients.