By Jake Stern
Scientists from Imperial College London are testing an injection that could, in the future, replace heart transplants and other cardiac surgery. The subjects of the study are two dozen patients at Harefield hospital in the United Kingdom with serious heart failure and fitted with mechanical pumps. The gene therapy involves injecting a benign virus with copies of an enzyme that helps heart muscles contract by recycling calcium.
The replacement …

By Chiru Murage
There is a call for the Ministry of Health to establish protocols preventing the sale of Iranian kidneys to foreign patients. The Ministry, however, blames society for this problem. Doctors in Iran are thousands of dollars to carry out transplants on patients that come with fake documents to the country in search of people willing to sell their organs. Kidney donation to foreign nationals is illegal in Iran, …

By Saara Akhtar
As the interest in 3D bioprinting is sky-rocketing, it seems as though the limelight has illuminated a bigger problem for the technology that may be solved by the use of “ghost organs”. 3D bioprinting uses living cells to create models of organs and tissues.These lab-grown organs could be potentially created from adult pluripotent stem cells (cells with the capacity to differentiate many different cells).Thus, there is a …

By Chiru Murage

Face transplants provide a new life for victims of horrific accidents, maulings, and violent crime. Because scars from such accidents can’t be hidden, face transplants give patients the ability to regain normality in their lives after a traumatic event. Since April 2014, there have been 28 face transplants around the world. Dr. Luskin, CEO of the New England Organ Bank, says “anyone with this disfigurement would argue they’re …

By Rebecca Moore
Founded by Lisa Stehno-Bittel and Karthik Ramachandran, the Pet Organ Donation Network is an organization dedicated to preserving “research animals’ lives” and sharing “tissues and organs for transplant into dogs and cats in need.” The Newtork works with State Line Animal Hospital and Wayside Waifs to provide organs for Likarda, a bioscience firm located in Kansas. The research at Likarda is primarily on canine and feline diabetes, but …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer
There’s a new project coming out of technological powerhouse Google. Dubbed Baseline, this innovative venture’s mission is to map out the paragon of human health.
The company will start by collecting genetic information from 175 volunteers for analysis; these initial findings will be bolstered by genetic information from several thousand others. The goal is to analyze this data for patterns, or biomarkers, that can be used to detect diseases …

By Chiru Murage
A new bipartisan bill titled the Living Donor Protection Act was proposed last Wednesday to Congress that would further protect the rights of living organ donors. The bill would protect living organ donors from higher premiums and limited coverage from insurance companies. Reps Michael Burgess, Republican representative from Texas, and Jerrold Nadler, Democrat representative from Brooklyn, state in their bill “living organ donors may unfortunately face discrimination when …

By Jake Stern
The health insurance company Excellus BlueCross BlueShield issued a report this week that shows New Yorkers register themselves as organ donors at less than half the rate of other Americans (22% statewide vs 48% nationwide). This is despite the fact that demand for organs in New York is one of the highest in the country, with over 11,000 residents on the waiting list.
Barb Petersen, a nurse at Bassett …

By Rebecca Moore
Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have found a regulatory gene believed to be crucial in understanding the regenerative mechanisms of tissues. Known as Sox4 gene, researchers believe that this gene may provide a link between stem cells, aging, and cancer: three elements thought to be interconnected.
Sox4 gene is mainly expressed during the embryonic development phase. This gene plays a vital role in the development of …

By Chiru Murage
INTERPOL is currently investigating a number of Kenyan organizations that have been tied to human trafficking for the purpose of the use of victims as a living supply of organs. Kenya has the highest rate of human trafficking in East and Central Africa, where alleged corruption – possibly including the police, intelligence agencies, and the judiciary – has necessitated an intervention by INTERPOL to shut down this illegal …