Growing a Bioartificial Heart

A research group from the University of Minnesota reports in Nature Medicine that they have grown a bioartificial heart using cells from a newborn rat and the "scaffolding" of a rat cadaver heart.  Although this work is still many years away from the clinic, it clearly boosts the prospects of repairing and possibly even regenerating complex organs using cell-based therapies.

An interview with Dr. Doris A. Taylor, the head of the Minnesota research group, and video of the beating heart, can be found here.