Adam Blakeney culturing stem cells in the Shelby Biomedical Research Building at UAB
My oldest son (Nathan’s big bro’), Adam, has almost completed his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His team has completed a project that has recently been published in Biofabrication, a journal of state-of-the-art research and development. Much of what those guys do is waaay over my head, but I asked Adam about his work and the kind of innovations we may see in the future.
“I design materials using plastics and protein building blocks, which contain and control the growth of human stem cells derived from adults,” he tells me. He experiments with the creation of “cell scaffoldings,” attempting to “mimic the body’s natural mesh of collagen and elastin as closely as possible.” The goal is to fashion the right combination of materials and artistry so that living replicas of human parts (blood vessels and heart valves, e.g.) can become functional replacements for diseased or deformed parts.
How might this technology benefit children with congenital heart defects? “Deformed heart valves in infants usually mean multiple surgeries over the course of the child’s life as the heart outgrows the implanted artificial valve,” Adam says. Stem cell researchers hope to eliminate the need for extra surgeries. “By creating a shell of a valve out of plastics or natural materials, and infusing them with stem cells, the hope is for the cells to overtake the originally artificial valve,” he explains. “As the heart grows, the old valve would break down and replace itself using the cell’s naturally produced collagen and elastin.”
Adam and Nathan (li'l Adam!)
Adam says it’s difficult to tell how close scientists are to turning research into reality. “‘How close changes monthly, but I could see applications using stem cells becoming widespread in ten to fifteen years.” He says there are still challenges to overcome, one of the biggest being “controlling what happens to a stem cell when it is implanted.” Addressing this problem will involve “a combination of localized drugs, genetic engineering, and the structure which the cells are placed on, each of which have their own set of problems.”
Despite the challenges, Adam sees a positive future for this research. “Repairing damaged heart muscle and missing vasculature are strong candidates for the first widespread applications of tissue engineering.”
It is no longer unrealistic to envision growing new tissue from our own stem cells to repair damaged organs. Science fantasy is on the verge of becoming science fact.
Tags: Adam Blakeney, Congenital Heart Defects, Shelby Biomedical Research Building, stem cell research, UAB, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.