via Wall Street Journal
From growing blood vessels in labs to applying advanced nanotechnology to cancer testing, here are some emerging technologies that could have a big impact on medicine in coming years.
Engineered Blood Vessels
Humacyte Inc., a Morrisville, N.C., startup, is notching big advances in growing human tissue in labs that can be implanted safely in the body. Its lead product is a blood vessel designed for patients undergoing kidney dialysis.
The company uses donor cells to grow the human tissue needed to make the blood vessels. It cleanses the donor cells from the vessels before implanting them, so patients’ immune systems don’t reject them.
Two midstage studies published in the Lancet in May showed patients’ natural cells merged with the engineered blood vessels, which could make them less prone to infection and more durable than the metal tubes often used to facilitate blood flow in dialysis patients. Humacyte hopes to bring the first bioengineered blood vessel to the U.S. around 2019.
