Category Archives: Alabama Stem Cells

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3D-printed patch could lead to new treatments for patients after a heart attack Biotechin.Asia In this study, researchers from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Alabama-Birmingham used laser-based 3D-bioprinting techniques to incorporate stem cells derived from adult human heart cells on ... and more »

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3D-printed patch could lead to new treatments for patients after a heart attack - Biotechin.Asia

By Claire Tully | Campus Editor | 14 hours ago Image by Kae Henderson | Photographer | The Auburn Plainsman

Curry Cates, contestant and winner of the 22nd annual Big Man on Campus Pageant on Thursday, April. 13, 2017, in Auburn, Ala.

Zeta Tau Alpha's Gamma Rho chapter on campus hosts the Big Man on Campus event each spring to raise money for breast cancer research in the form of an all-male pageant.

Contestants performed in opening numbers, individual talents, dressed in formal wear and answered on stage questions at the event, in addition to collaborating with the sororities to raise funds prior to the pageant.

This year,Curry Cates, junior in health services administration , was crowned the winner after impressing judges with his performance of "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban.

"My entire family can sing," Cates said."My dad, sister, grandparents, so I grew up in church singing and sang in choir in high school."

Cates said singing has been a hobby of his for years, so it made sense he chose to perform a song during the pageant's talent segment.

"During high school I attended Alabama Allstate chorus all 4 years, and I started taking voice lessons," Cates said."I participated in NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) competition where I placed 1st in my category senior year. I have always enjoyed singing, and love being able to sing with family and friends."

As for the fundraising portion of the competition, Cates said he worked closely with Tri Delta.

"I partnered with my nominating sorority Tri Delta in raising the funds necessary to support The Zeta Foundation," Cates said.

Prior to competing, Cates participated in other organizations, which have kept him active on Auburn's campus.

"I am a prior CWE counselor and am the Director of Auburn Family for Dance Marathon for this year," Cates said.

Cates said one of the greatest things he's had the opportunity to do is donate stem cells. He said the connection to Auburn occurred when he entered the registry on the concourse one day.

"I would have to say getting the opportunity to donate stem cells to a patient with Acute Myeloginis Leukemia, which was set up through Be The Match, a national bone marrow registry," Cates said."I was able to go to D.C. over Christmas break and donate these potentially life saving stem cells to a patient in France who was around my age. Really great experience."

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Meet Curry Cates: 2017 Big Man on Campus - The Auburn Plainsman

By Duwayne Escobedo

At a recent press conference in honor of his facilitys 10th anniversary, Dr. James Andrews told the story about the moment he knew the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center partnership with Baptist Health Care would happen.

Baptist Health Care brought its top executives to approach him for a second time in December 2003 about teaming up to start a sports medicine medical center in Gulf Breeze. He had just finished surgery at his Birmingham, Ala., center and welcomed the group into a small adjacent office.

Baptist Health Care CEO, Al Stubblefield envisioned building the Andrews Institute next to Gulf Breeze Hospital and providing its world-class medical care to the community. He was told about Andrews and his celebrity as a top sports orthopaedic surgeon. Stubblefield said, I dont know what an athletic trainer is, but I want some.

However, other Baptist officials werent convinced, especially Baptist Chief Financial Officer Joe Felkner.

During a tour of the Andrews sports medical center in Alabama, Felkner spotted USA Olympic gymnast Blaine Wilson doing rehab on an injured shoulder. Wilson grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and starred on Ohio States gymnastics team. Felkner was a big Buckeyes fanatic.

It was a damn miracle, Andrews said. He always played the bad guy. But right away he said, We got to do this. Thats really how we got the financing done.

A decade later, Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze has made a huge impact on the Florida Gulf Coast region. It is estimated to have an economic impact on the region of tens of millions of dollars. The cutting-edge, world-renowned sports medicine center celebrated its achievements at its 10th anniversary Wednesday in the Andrews Athletic Performance and Research Pavilion.

Its been a magnificent journey for all of us, said Andrews, who thanked local government officials, Baptist executives, his team of more than 50 physicians, and wife, Jenelle. He also singled out longtime friend Jerry Pate and Ed Gray for securing funding from then-Governor Jeb Bush that helped make the Florida center a reality.

The funding allowed Andrews Institute to open the doors to its 126,535-square-foot sports medicine center in April 2007 that feels more like an upscale, luxurious hotel than a hospital. It features an ambulatory surgery center, an athletic performance center, and a research and education center.

Over its first 10 years, Andrews Institute performed more than 6,000 surgeries, provided athletic trainers freely to 25 public high schools from Escambia to Walton County and three area colleges, trained 57 fellows under its top-notch physicians, and worked to develop the next generation of sports medicine tools at its Regenerative Medicine Center.

Not only did it look back at its achievements at the press conference, the sports medicine center looked forward to what the next decade might hold for the institute.

One promising development is the use of stem cells to help speed up the healing process, regenerate tissue, cartilage and organs and lead to other cures for diseases, such as diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.

Dr. Adam Anz, an Andrews orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, is overseeing a stem cell study that starts in May. He said stem cells are five to seven years away from earning FDA approval for medical uses and becoming widely used to treat patients. Stem cells are considered the biggest advance in sports medicine since arthroscopy surgery, which allows physicians to make a small incision on a patient and use a tiny camera to surgically repair knees, rotator cuffs, and other common debilitating sports injuries.

Anz talked excitedly about regenerative medicine. Today, bone marrow aspiration typically produces about 17,000 stem cells, while140 million stem cells come from a variety of regenerative sources, such as embryos, gestational and adult tissues, and reprogrammed differentiated cells.

The FDA is a lot like the IRS, Anz explained. We need to refine and prove to them that they work. There are future products, and they need development.

Andrews agreed. He said: Were still at the tip of the iceberg. Its coming though. Regenerative medicine will revolutionize not only what we do in sports medicine but all surgeries.

Another impact that Andrews Institute has had on the region is its sports medicine outreach to youth. The public service ensures sports medicine coverage freely to all of the public high schools in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties and has plans to expand to other Northwest Florida counties, including Bay County. It includes performing baseline concussion tests for more than 4,500 youth athletes since 2015.

Only 37 percent of public high schools have a full-time athletic trainer, reports the NATA Research and Education Foundation.

Andrews led a charge in 2015 in the Florida Legislature to require all Florida High Schools to have at least one athletic trainer. But the legislation never passed.

Its getting to where it will be a medical legal issue, Andrews predicted. Right now my passion is youth sports.

Dr. Roger Ostrander was one of the first orthopaedic surgeons to relocate to Gulf Breeze in July 2004.

When I got here in 2004, I didnt understand the scope and magnitude of this project. Its unique in the country, Ostrander said. I feel very fortunate to be part of Andrews Institute from the beginning.

Andrews Institute By the Numbers 2007-2017 650,000+ Visits to Andrews Institute Rehabilitation location since 2008 61% Increase in patient volume since 2008 228,000+ X-ray and MRI exams completed since 2007 50,864 Patients/Cases seen at the Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center 303% Increase in patient volume since 2007 20,000 Free pre-participation exams performed 68,500 Injury assessments performed 1,800 Injury assessments performed at Saturday morning Student-Athlete Injury Clinic 4,500 Concussion baseline tests performed since 2015 400 Community events with Andrews Institute sports medicine coverage 84 Clinical research studies conducted over the last 10 years 19 Open clinical research studies from July 2015 to June 2016 112 Wounded or injured Special Operations military members treated from July 2015 to June 2016

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Andrews Institute Looks Ahead - Inweekly

A research team at the University of Minnesota found a way to heal broken hearts.

Researchers used a 3D printer to create protein patches that mimic heart tissue to treat post-heart attack scars. The research is in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Brenda Ogle, a University biomedical engineering professor and lead researcher for the project, said she and her team have investigated proteins that surround cells in the body for 15 years. The team has been studying how the proteins also called the extracellular matrix influence stem cell behavior.

For many years, weve been trying to develop optimum formulation that can support stem cells in new cardiac [cell] types, Ogle said, adding that theyve focused on cardiac cell types to figure out a way to strengthen them after the muscle cells are damaged and die during a heart attack. Its one of the cell types in the body that cant be recovered.

The team successfully treated mice with the patches and is now planning to test the method on larger animals.

Molly Kupfer, a doctoral student who is part of Ogles team, said a heart attack occurs when there is a blockage in a primary blood vessel that delivers oxygen and nutrients to the heart.

When that happens, you have cell death in the area of the heart that doesnt receive the appropriate oxygen and nutrients, Kupfer said. Those cells that die arent able to recover."

Typically, after a heart attack, the blood clot in the heart is removed at a hospital, and if the heart has not been damaged too badly, doctors monitor the heart long-term, prescribe medicine and regularly check for signs of heart failure, Ogle said.

What you get instead after a heart attack is scar tissue forming, and that scar tissue ultimately fails, Ogle said.

Associate Professor Brenda Ogle places a 3D printed biopatch on a mouse heart in Nils Hasselmo Hall on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Her research team induces heart attacks in mice, which causes a dead area of cardiac cells. The patch is placed in this dead zone and mimics the cells of the native heart that aren't able to be replenished on their own.

Kupfer said she worked with Paul Campagnola and his lab at the University of Wisconsin to print the patches; the cells were prepared at the University of Minnesota.

Campagnola, a biomedical engineering professor, said he initially developed the underlying printing technology in 2000.

"The idea of the patch is it could actually behave like native cardiac tissue and assist the function of the heart, Kupfer said, adding that the method used to print the patches results in extremely high resolution structures.

Ogle said before applying the patch to the animal hearts theyre currently testing on, they take a scan of the scarred tissue and create a digital template for the 3D-printer to follow and print the proteins in the same pattern.

Campagnola said the patch provides a stable space for cells to grow and be implanted in damaged areas.

Cardiac cells are also added to the patch when it covers a damaged area. Ogle said it not only provides a support structure, but transplants healthy cells that will eventually become integrated into the heart, stabling it structurally and functionally.

A huge aha moment was when [the cardiac cells] started to beat on this patch synchronously and spontaneously, she said. When that happened, we realized that this could be a viable therapy for the heart, a way to replace those lost muscle cells.

Through the research group at the University of Alabama, Ogle said a study was conducted where the patch was tested on dead or dying tissue in mice hearts and the group saw improvement in the mice after four weeks.

The project was funded through a series of grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation with support from the University, she said.

The group has since received larger funds from the NIH to run a study using the patch on larger animals within the next year.

Ogle said it would take about 10 years until the patch can be used on human patients in a clinical setting.

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UMN research team fixes broken hearts with 3D-printed tissue patch - Minnesota Daily

CINCINNATI Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron is looking at another year of barely getting on the field, and maybe longer.

With the draft a few days away, Cincinnati has given no indication its willing to trade him to a team that would give him a bigger role. Its a challenging situation for McCarron, who proved he could lead a team into the playoffs in 2015 if given the opportunity.

As a competitor, you always want your chance to play, McCarron said Monday. But it will happen. I just have to wait my time. I believe that, and I trust in my ability to keep showcasing what I can do and then get my opportunity.

The two-time national champion at Alabama got his chance when Andy Dalton broke the thumb on his passing hand late in the 2015 season. McCarron, a fifth-round pick, started the last three games and won two of them. His late touchdown pass to A.J. Green had Cincinnati ahead in the closing minutes of a playoff game against Pittsburgh before a pair of defensive penalties helped the Steelers move in range for the winning field goal.

Last year, he was relegated to a backup role again, getting into only one game without throwing a pass.

Although theres great demand in the NFL for starting quarterbacks, the Bengals havent shown an inclination to trade him. Theyre content having him as the backup in case Dalton gets hurt again.

Its great to be wanted, it really is, McCarron said.

Even so, its difficult to go back to being the backup after leading a team to the playoffs. Dalton has been extremely durable during his six-year career the broken thumb was his only significant injury so the odds are against McCarron getting much chance to play until his contract ends.

Hes in a situation similar to Jimmy Garoppolo in New England, which hasnt shown an inclination to trade Tom Bradys backup.

McCarrons original deal runs through this season, but theres a catch. He showed up for training camp with a sore shoulder as a rookie in 2014 and was unavailable for most of the season, which could affect his status. Instead of being an unrestricted free agent, the Bengals think he should be a restricted free agent after the 2017 season because he missed most of his rookie season.

As a restricted free agent, McCarron could wind up spending the 2018 season in Cincinnati as well.

Were still going through all that, McCarron said. And its probably going to go into next year. Its just something theyre going to fight on their side and something Im going to fight on my side to prove why I shouldnt have to have another year.

McCarrons eagerness to move into a starters role is tempered by his appreciation for how the Bengals drafted him. They stuck with him after he missed most of his rookie season because of the sore shoulder, which improved after he got stem cells injected. In a year or two, hell get his chance.

There were some quarterbacks that got some pretty nice pay days this offseason, McCarron said. Hopefully in my future, one of those days is coming up.

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Bengals set to hold onto McCarron for at least 1 more year | Sports ... - Newsexaminer

In 2007, Baptist Health Care teamed with renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews to establish the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. This month, the institute is marking its ten year anniversary while also looking ahead to its next ten.

The Andrews Institute was built largely on the reputation of Dr. Andrews, who was already well known for performing orthopedic surgery on high-profile athletes such as Charles Barkley, Roger Clemens, and Pensacolas Emmitt Smith and Jerry Pate.

But, from the very beginning, the founders had plans for a world-class facility that would extend far beyond star athletes in the college and professional ranks.

We would like to figure out how to prevent the injuries that we see in all of our youth sports and you know youve got lots of those going on in this community, said Dr. Andrews at the official announcement back in November of 2000.

Just to preface why its so important, its been a 10-fold increase in youth injuries and youth sports since year 2000. Something has to be done about it.

By this point in 2004, plans for the orthopedic and sports medicine center had been in the works for about a year.

Andrews credits the vision of former Baptist CEO Al Stubblefield, whose team made two trips to Birmingham to make their pitch.

By the way, I was completely amazed at this point because a lot of people talk about doing things and its talk and thats the end of it, Andrews said. But here they come back for a second meeting up in Birmingham.

That was Andrews, reflecting on the origins of the Institute at a recent tenthanniversary event.

Once the idea began to take hold, Andrews credits pro golfer and U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate. Pate, who was a frequent surgical patient and friend, helped secure private and state funding for the project.

Ground was broken in 2005 and with just a few physicians on staff, the facility opened in its 85-thousand-square-foot clinical facility in 2007.

What started with Dr. Andrews, Dr. Hackel, and Dr. Ostrander then, today equates to over 30 orthopaedic providers of some ilk in our community today that are part of the institute, said Scott Raynes, Senior Vice president of Baptist Health Care, and President of Baptist Hospital.

The campus has now grown to 127,000 square feet, with six departments and numerous medical specialties offered on-site.

With that said, we do in excess of 6,000 orthopaedic surgeries within our health system, the majority of them done here on this campus, said Raynes, referencing one aspect of the institutes robust and rich presence in the community and region.

As part of their Sports Medicine Outreach, Baptist and the Andrews Institute have performed 20,000 free school sports physicals since 1997.

Further, Dr. Steve Jordan, orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, points to another highlight of their first ten years is the sports medicine and athletic training services now provided across the region.

Baptist Hospital and Andrews Institute now employ 28 athletic trainers and cover all the public schools in Escambia, SR, Okaloosa and Walton counties; quite an achievement, said Dr. Jordan, adding that a new position recently was approved for a regional sports medicine liaison. This will expand our coverage even further east into the Jackson County and Panama City area.

Looking to the next 10 years, the Andrews Institute is leading the way towards the future of orthopaedics and sports medicine, most recently (in 2106) establishing the Regenerative Medicine Center. The staff there is working on ways to improve surgical techniques currently used to repair damaged cartilage.

Currently, on our campus we offer two regenerative medicine technologies. Platelet rich plasma is the first thats been around for quite some time, said Dr. Adam Anz, an orthopaedic surgeon and medical director of clinical and biologic research at the Andrews Research & Education Foundation. He says theyre also offering bone marrow aspirate.

Similar to when we get blood from your veins, spin it in a centrifuge and take a layer thats important for healing, we can stick a needle under your bone marrow, take some of your bone marrow out, spin it and get the layer that has stem cells and use it for orthopedic purposes, too, Anz said.

The Institute is currently involved in a number of studies involving the further development of stem cell technology.

Dr. James Andrews explained that their research is now on the long path to federal approval.

We have to deal here under the auspices of the Federal Drug Administration to number one make surewere not doing harm, said Dr. Andrews, pointing out that the process is also expensive. You couldnt believe how expensive; that project hes doing upstairs that he was talking about with the Apheresis machine is a multi, multi-million dollar project.

Despite many challenges, Andrews believes the research and education underway at the Institute is the key to their future and the future of sports medicine. And, hes confident that stem cell development will be the biggest revelation in the field since the arthroscope in the 1970s.

Personally, Andrews continues his university affiliation with Alabama, Auburn, and Troy; and with the NFL Washington Redskins. At 74 years old, he has no plans to slow down any time soon, noting the work he still wants to do.

Prevention for me right now in youth sports is the one thing Im passionate about. Its the one thing Im trying to conquer in the twilight of my career. But, believe me its a big uphill battle, a big battle.

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Andrews Institute Celebrates Ten Years, Looks to Next Ten - WUWF

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. According to the American Heart Association it kills 3,60,000 plus people in a year. The cells die during a heart attack as the individual loses the blood flow to the heart muscle. Typically a human body cannot replace these heart muscle cells which is why the body forms a scar tissue in that area. This can put the individual at risk of a future heart failure and a compromised heart function. What can be touted as good news, a news release by the University of Minnesota mentions that their team of researchers created a revolutionary 3d printed patch which helps recover heart attack.

The team of researchers have created a 3d bio-printed patch which helps heal the scarred heart tissue. This is a revolutionary bio-printed patch which can make the restoration of the heart tissue a reality. This team of bio-medical engineering researchers is led by the University of Minnesota. Patients suffer from tissue damage after suffering from a heart attack, and this discovery can be a major break-through in treating such patients.

The University of Minnesota reports in an official news release, that this research study is published in the Circulation Research by the American Heart Association. Along with this break-through, the researchers have also filed a patent for this discovery. Researchers from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, University of Alabama-Birmingham, and University of Wisconsin-Madison carried this study that can prove as a major benefit to heart attack patients.

Stem cells acquired from an adult human heart are embodied on a matrix using laser based 3d bio-printing techniques. When these cells grow, this matrix replicates the structures of a normal heart tissue as well as it starts beating in sync. As Engadget reports, the early results seem to be promising.

The team of researchers carried out a test on a rodent. Following a stimulated heart attack, a cell patch was placed on the rodent. In a time span of 4 weeks, the mouses heart saw a significant increase in its functional capacity. This 3d printed patch is made from proteins and cells that are native to the heart. Also, this patch absorbed into the rodents heart without tough follow-up surgeries. But obviously, a rodents heart is easier to repair compared to a human heart. Hopefully, the team believes that in the upcoming years it will be feasible to patch human hearts easily.

This is a significant step forward in treating the No.1 cause of death in the U.S. We feel that we could scale this up to repair hearts of larger animals and possibly even humans within the next several years; says Brenda Ogle in a news release by the University of Minnesota. Brenda ogle is an associate professor of bio-medical engineering at this university.

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Scientists want to help you recover heart attack with a 3d printed patch - Industry Leaders Magazine

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2016, file photo, Cincinnati Bengals' AJ McCarron (5) throws against the Indianapolis Colts during the first half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati. Bengals backup quarterback McCarron is looking at another year of barely getting on the field, and maybe longer. (AP Photo/Frank Victores, File)

CINCINNATI (AP) Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron is looking at another year of barely getting on the field, and maybe longer.

With the draft a few days away, Cincinnati has given no indication its willing to trade him to a team that would give him a bigger role. Its a challenging situation for McCarron, who proved he could lead a team into the playoffs in 2015 if given the opportunity.

As a competitor, you always want your chance to play, McCarron said Monday. But it will happen. I just have to wait my time. I believe that, and I trust in my ability to keep showcasing what I can do and then get my opportunity.

The two-time national champion at Alabama got his chance when Andy Dalton broke the thumb on his passing hand late in the 2015 season. McCarron, a fifth-round pick, started the last three games and won two of them. His late touchdown pass to A.J. Green had Cincinnati ahead in the closing minutes of a playoff game against Pittsburgh before a pair of defensive penalties helped the Steelers move in range for the winning field goal.

Last year, he was relegated to a backup role again, getting into only one game without throwing a pass.

Although theres great demand in the NFL for starting quarterbacks, the Bengals havent shown an inclination to trade him. Theyre content having him as the backup in case Dalton gets hurt again.

Its great to be wanted, it really is, McCarron said.

Even so, its difficult to go back to being the backup after leading a team to the playoffs. Dalton has been extremely durable during his six-year career the broken thumb was his only significant injury so the odds are against McCarron getting much chance to play until his contract ends.

Hes in a situation similar to Jimmy Garoppolo in New England, which hasnt shown an inclination to trade Tom Bradys backup.

McCarrons original deal runs through this season, but theres a catch. He showed up for training camp with a sore shoulder as a rookie in 2014 and was unavailable for most of the season, which could affect his status. Instead of being an unrestricted free agent, the Bengals think he should be a restricted free agent after the 2017 season because he missed most of his rookie season.

As a restricted free agent, McCarron could wind up spending the 2018 season in Cincinnati as well.

Were still going through all that, McCarron said. And its probably going to go into next year. Its just something theyre going to fight on their side and something Im going to fight on my side to prove why I shouldnt have to have another year.

McCarrons eagerness to move into a starters role is tempered by his appreciation for how the Bengals drafted him. They stuck with him after he missed most of his rookie season because of the sore shoulder, which improved after he got stem cells injected. In a year or two, hell get his chance.

There were some quarterbacks that got some pretty nice pay days this offseason, McCarron said. Hopefully in my future, one of those days is coming up.

___

For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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Bengals set to hold onto McCarron for at least 1 more year - WTOP

April 21, 2017 by Tyler Greer This normothermic perfusion machine pumps the liver with warm, oxygenated blood and nutrition at or just below body temperature for up to 24 hours before transplant. Credit: UAB News

Physicians in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Surgery have transplanted Alabama's first patient with a cadaver liver that was recovered from the donor and "kept alive" and preserved at body temperature instead of the standard cold solutiona technique that enables the patient to receive a liver that surgeons can watch produce bile before it is transplanted.

The transplant was performed recently by UAB Medicine surgeons on Lana Wiggins, a Valley, Alabama, resident, as part of a clinical trial using a normothermic machine perfusion technique developed by OrganOx. Surgeons place the cadaver liver in the normothermic machine, which then pumps the organ with warm, oxygenated blood and nutrition at or just below body temperature for up to 24 hours before transplant. Devin Eckhoff, M.D., director of UAB's Division of Transplantation, says the technique has shown great success in European studies and appears to provide a significant improvement in the quality of the transplanted cadaver organ.

"Because there is a large shortage of livers available for transplantation, the transplant community is continuing to push the boundaries to increase the availability of organs," Eckhoff said. "These normothermic machines enable us to preserve the liver under near perfect physiological conditionsas opposed to the usual hypothermic conditions in which the organ is typically transplanted. With the normothermic preservation, the liver maintains all aspects of graft function throughout the preservation process; it allows for pre-transplant assessment of organ function and thereby viability to predict suitability for implantation and the delivery of potential agents such as stem cells to further improve the tissue damage caused when blood supply returns to the tissue after a lack of oxygen."

UAB's School of Medicine and UAB Hospital have joined 14 other transplant centers in the United States in this study. Research efforts like this clinical trial have focused on overcoming the limitations of cold storage, which is the current universal standard for organ preservation, with a move toward normothermic machine perfusion.

Wiggins, who educated and aided families on the value of being an organ donor as a registered nurse at East Alabama Lanier Hospital for 25 years, says she feels better than she has in three years. That was when the combination of a blood clot, fatty liver disease and medications she had taken her whole life for lupus converged to cause the beginning of liver failure.

"I'm doing fantastic, just wonderful, and I'm already back home doing everything I did before my transplant," said the 63-year-old. "It's ironic that I would be the one in need after all of the years of talking about organ donation with patients or patient families. Even before I was a donor coordinator, I believed in organ donation. I signed up when I was in my early 20s. I'm beyond grateful to have received this gift now."

Normothermic preservation advantages

Although limited in terms of the duration of preservation, cold storage has the major advantages of simplicity, portability and affordability. However, with increased use of marginal organs in recent years because of the dearth of livers available, the limitations of static cold storage are a major factor influencing patient and graft survival rates.

The machine that houses the liver to preserve it prior to transplant is the first completely automated liver perfusion device of its kind. It works similar to a greenhouse, and is constructed from basic components that make up conventional cardiopulmonary bypass, including basic roller pumps, oxygenators and heat exchangers.

"This machine can really help in a number of ways," said Stephen Gray, M.D., liver transplant surgeon and director of UAB's Abdominal Transplant Fellowship. "The fact that the machine can perfuse the organ with oxygenated red blood cells at normal body temperaturejust as it would be inside the bodyand that we can observe it making bile before transplant is just an extraordinary feat, and a significant benefit to us as surgeons and our patients. With these normothermic machine-perfused livers, we can assess whether it is going to work before we transplant it into the patient, whereas we typically do not know if the liver will work until the transplant takes place."

This kind of advancement could mean livers can eventually be shipped from coast to coast in the United States, an impossibility for cold-stored livers. If that is the case, geography would not be as much of a hurdle to transplant those most in need. It also means surgeons would not have to operate overnight if a liver can be kept viable for up to 24 hours.

"You can use a liver for transplant that was placed in cold storage for up to 12 hours; but cooling the organ to ice temperature to slow down its metabolism does not stop it from deteriorating, usually within the first six to eight hours," Gray said. "And if the organ is damaged in some way, perhaps by being deprived of oxygen, the combined effect can be catastrophic for the organ. The perfused machine would allow us to extend the storage time and only enhance the viability of the liver."

Eckhoff added that preliminary evidence from clinical trials in Europe have shown organ preservation by normothermic machine perfusion is superior to static cold storage, a breakthrough that could be a major benefit to those with end-stage liver disease.

"If this is as successful as it appears it can be, it will be a significant benefit to those in need of liver transplantation," Eckhoff said. "About 60,000 patients die of liver disease annually in the United States, and many of them could theoretically have been treated with a liver transplant. This device has the potential to change that radically by enabling us to transplant many organs that are simply unusable with current techniques."

The clinical trial at UAB is expected to last 18 months.

For Wiggins, she is just happy to have a second chance at a healthy life.

"It's hard to describe how you feel about someone who makes the decision to give life to others after they are gone by choosing to be an organ donor," Wiggins said. "I had a cousin who died when he was 19, and his parents donated all of his organshis heart, kidneys, livereverything they could. He was a healthy young boy who helped save several lives. To have someone do the same for me is overwhelming. A tremendous blessing."

Explore further: Organ transplants, deceased donors set record in 2016

Organ transplants performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and across the United States in 2016 reached record highs, according to preliminary data from UAB and the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Organ donation after circulatory death (DCD), in which transplant organs are taken from donors after ay period of no blood circulation or oxygenation, is often considered inferior to donation after brain death, in which circulation ...

A new preservation system that pumps cooled, oxygen-rich fluid into donor livers not only keeps the organs in excellent condition for as long as nine hours before transplantation, but also leads to dramatically better liver ...

British surgeons said Friday they have performed successful liver transplants on two patients using a revolutionary technique which keeps the organ warm and functioning while outside the body.

People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that ...

There's new hope for patients with liver disease who are waiting for a donor liver to become available for transplantation.

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Cher Zhao recently had the rare opportunity to practice skills belonging to the most advanced surgeons: reconstructive cartilage grafting.

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UAB performs Alabama's first transplant where cadaver liver is 'kept ... - Medical Xpress

3D printing incorporating human stem cells might soon become a standard technique for treating heart attack victims, according to US researchers.

Scientists from universities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Alabama last week unveiled a way of incorporating cells into a bio-printed matrix that will potentially reduce the risk of a second heart attack.

During a heart attack, blood flow to the organ decreases, resulting in massive cell death. These dead cells do not regenerate and are replaced instead by scar tissue which increases the risk of another adverse event.

The US team, led by biomedical engineer Brenda Ogle at the University of Minnesota, used laser-based 3D printing to bind human stem cells into a matrix that at least in a Petri dish in the lab began to beat like heart muscle.

In a further test, the team created 3D-printed heart patches using mouse cells and implanted them into the damaged hearts of lab mice.

After four weeks, the researchers reported "significant increase in functional capacity" in the rodents.

Because the stem cells and supporting proteins used in the biofilm had come originally from each individual animal, the patches became absorbed into each heart. There was no immune system resistance, and no need for follow-up surgery.

Although the technique is still at proof-of-concept stage and faces years of rigorous clinical trials, it represents an important shift towards personalised, regenerative therapies. It also represents a major new direction for 3D printing.

"We were quite surprised by how well it worked given the complexity of the heart," Ogle said. "We were encouraged to see that the cells had aligned in the scaffold and showed a continuous wave of electrical signal that moved across the patch."

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