Miniorgan Produces Insulin in the Omentum
In a thrilling definition of “natural,” biomedical researchers at the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute have engineered a miniorgan that mimics the natural pancreas and implanted it on a Type 1 diabetes patient’s omentum where it restored natural insulin production. Here’s the charm of it in the words of the leading scientist: “This is the first tissue engineered islet transplant using a ‘biodegradable scaffold’ implanted on the surface of the omentum, to minimize the inflammatory reaction that is normally observed when islets are implanted in the liver or in other sites with immediate contact to the blood. Avoidance of inflammation has been shown to be important to minimize harm to the newly transplanted islets, and we are all very excited about the potential of this new clinical trial.” MORE
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