Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine Instagram – I post this a lot, but I find it fascinating: This pale, decellularized “ghost heart” is a little miracle for organ donation. The concept is a project started by molecular biologist Dr Doris Taylor, and which began around 2008 in the USA. A pig’s heart is placed in a solution which “washes” or removes the cells that make up most of the tissue, leaving just a protein scaffold behind – and amazingly part of this “washing” process involves baby shampoo! The scaffold, a transparent extracellular matrix, is neutral meaning it won’t be rejected by the new host: i.e. the person receiving the heart. After being re-filled with stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of the host, it’s placed into a bioreactor and left to mature into a fully beating heart with a new ‘identity’. This takes a lot of work and time and is now done in a sterile robotic chamber. The heart can then be transplanted into the recipient as if it was their own organ, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs and improving the post-transplant quality of life as less time is required in hospital. Dr Taylor left academia in 2020 and is currently working with private investors to bring her creation to the public. Human trials are on the way soon.
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I would absolutely LOVE to teach how to make these in a Saturday workshop (like I used to do with regular lamb heart preservation classes.) It would make an arresting little specimen and unusual gift. WHO WOULD LOVE THIS?! Tell me, in comments, if you’d like this or if you’d like me to start doing organ preservation classes again… 2024 may be the year we can increase public engagement events.
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#valloween #valentinescountdown #valentinesday #valentine #humanremains #ghost #remains2beseen #anatomy #pathology #specimen #heart #hearttransplant #ghostheart #stemcells #organdonation #transplant | Posted on 05/Feb/2024 00:00:35