Thursday, February 20, 2014

From Skin, Comes a Beating Heart

For as long as anyone can remember, heart disease has been one of the leading causes of death. What if doctors told you that they could create the same cells your heart is made of, by using your skin cells? In recent research studies and tests, scientists have found that they can create a beating heart cell from something they call a four-molecular "cocktail." This "cocktail" contains the molecules and data that scientists need to create the cells. After multiple failed tests, Drs. Ding and Wang decided to add something called Oct4. This gave the cells the ability to start contracting in only 20 days.

I think heart disease is an important subject to study and for scientists to keep researching about. Your heart is the main organ keeping you alive and unfortunately many people's stop working. In many cases,  doctors don't know why someone's heart fails because patients don't show signs of heart failure, or they don't recognize it. With this new advance in medicine, there is the potential to save so many people from heart attacks or the after affects of a heart attack. Knowing someone who has had many heart issues, it seems amazing that there could soon be the ability to not only stich up a hear or to stop it from bleeding out, but that they could create a permanent solution that could make your heart work to its full ability again.



NOS Themes:
  • Living Things Grow and Develop: This article shows that living things grow and develop because the human heart is what makes a person live and this research that scientists and doctors are doing shows how they are developing a new what to fix a heart and how they can grow new beating heart cells.
  • Role of motivation and curiosity: Scientists have been researching in order to see how they can form new cells and to find a new cure for heart attacks and heart disease







Link to Article: 

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2014 at 6:23 PM

    This is an amazing step forward in the medical field and Drs. Ding and Wang are not the only ones experimenting in regrowing the heart. Dr Eduardo Marbán, who is director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and Mark S. Siegel have also successfully removed heart attack scars and helped the heart muscle growth. They use the patient's stem cells to regrown healthy heart tissue.
    Go to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241592.php it find out more about Dr. Eduardo's research.

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  2. AnonymousMarch 2, 2014 at 2:51 PM

    This is a wonderful idea, and it led me to research a little bit about artificial heart implants. Currently, Researcher Stuart Williams explained scientists will create a new, functioning human heart by using cells and a 3-D printer. The idea of a 3D printer came out in the 1990s, but using them to create living organs is a new step towards bettering the medical field.

    Go to: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/05/29/health-3d-printing-organ-transplant/2370079/

    Additionally Organovo, a San Diego based startup, created 3D slices of liver that maintained their tissue functions (filtering nutrients, toxins and drugs) for up to 40 days. Through this discovery creating organs to implant, isn't too far off.

    For more info: http://www.livescience.com/40974-3d-printed-liver-slices-created.html

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  3. AnonymousMarch 2, 2014 at 7:29 PM

    Get concept and summary of the article! I think another great NOS theme would be Science is Collaborative. Multiple Doctors, including Wang and Ding as well as plenty others, have had input on this particular topic.
    Here is a article where more doctors work on creating a beating heart cell: http://www.cellsalive.com/myocyte.htm

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