Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1125769
t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 9 10 Bioengineered Lungs: How Long from Pigs to People? I n 2001, pediatric anesthesiologist Joaquin Cortiella, M.D., arrived at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for a job interview. Over lunch at the Galveston Yacht Club, he fell deep into conversation with Joan Nichols, Ph.D., a UTMB professor of internal medicine, microbiology and immunology. As Cortiella and Nichols grew more and more impassioned about possible research opportunities, they started to scribble down ideas on a used napkin and came up with a bold plan: to create viable organs in the lab. In between the food stains, they sketched out a diagram for potentially infusing a combi- nation of stem cells from Nichols' lab with lung-derived cells on a scaffold—a DNA-free, blank-slate structure—and, subsequently, trans- planting the lung into an animal. "When we first wrote this out, it was like science fiction," said Cortiella, who directs the tissue B y S h a n l e y P i e r c e r e g e n e r a t i v e m e d i c i n e : l u n g s UTMB bioengineers successfully created and transplanted lab- grown lungs into pigs Joaquin Cortiella, M.D., and Joan Nichols, Ph.D., examine a bioengineered lung at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.