Researchers working at Duke Universitys Pratt School of Engineering claim to have produced a laboratory first by having grown human muscle tissue that contracts and reacts to stimuli. Electrical pulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals have all been used to produce reactions in the tissue that show it behaves in the same way that natural human muscles does. As a result, laboratory grown tissue may soon provide researchers with the ability to study diseases and assess drugs without invasive procedures on human subjects. In a study headed by Nenad Bursac, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and Lauran Madden, a postdoctoral researcher in Bursacs laboratory, the team began by using a sample of human cells that had already been grown beyond the stem cell stage, but had not yet formed into muscle tissue. These "myogenic precursors" (that is, cells that will become muscle tissue) were then stretched by the researchers over a supportive scaffolding designed to promote their growth in 3D and to increase their area to more 1,000 times their original size. Molded from PDMS (silicone), the entire structure was filled with a growth medium that allowed the cells to develop while the structure itself helped to form … Continue reading →

Researchers at Duke University have grown the first ever human muscle in a lab that contracts just like naturally grown tissue. A microscopic view of the lab-grown muscles. Duke University The new kind of lab-grown muscle will allow the study of disease and testing new medications in a safe setting outside the human body, said the team, led by Nenad Bursac, Duke University associate professor of biomedical engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Lauran Madden. "The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish," Bursac said. "We are working to test drugs' efficacy and safety without jeopardising a patient's health." The contracting muscles were grown from what is called myogenic precursor cells -- cells that have progressed beyond the early stem cell phase, but hadn't quite yet grown into full muscle tissue. These cells were increased 1,000-fold, seeded into a 3D scaffold and nourished with a culture gel full of nutrients to encourage growth. Although growing animal muscles in a lab had already been achieved -- we have seen lab-grown meat -- optimising the process to successfully grow human muscle took the team a year. The resulting muscle tissue was then … Continue reading →

The study was led by biomedical engineers at Duke University They used cells that were beyond stem cells, but not yet muscle tissue These cells were put into a form of 3D scaffolding filled with a gel This gel helped the fibres to form and align like typical muscle fibres During tests, the fibres contracted in response to electrical stimuli They were also found to have functional signalling pathways in the nerves This is the first time lab-grown muscles have reacted in this way By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline Published: 11:36 EST, 14 January 2015 | Updated: 09:05 EST, 15 January 2015 For the first time, researchers have grown a muscle that moves and works just like fibres found in a living human body. Made from human cells, the lab-grown artificial muscle tissue responded to electrical pulses during tests, and reacted to drug treatments in the same way a hospital patient would. Experts now hope the tissue could be used to develop personalised treatments and drugs for patients suffering from muscular disorders. Scroll down for video For the first time, researchers have grown a muscle that moves and works just like fibres found in the human the body. Made from … Continue reading →

January 14, 2015 Microscopic view of lab-grown human muscle bundles stained to show patterns made by basic muscle units and their associated proteins (red), which are a hallmark of human muscle. (Credit: Nenad Bursac, Duke University) Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Researchers may soon test new drugs and study diseases in functioning human muscles thanks to Duke University, where biomedical engineers have, for the first time, grown contracting human muscles in a laboratory. The researchers explain in a statement that the lab-grown muscles respond to external stimuli such as electrical pulses, biochemical signals, and pharmaceuticals just like native tissue. The findings of the study have been published in the Tuesday edition of the open-access journal, eLife. The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish, explained study author and associate professor of biomedical engineering, Nenad Bursac. We are working to test drugs efficacy and safety without jeopardizing a patients health and also to reproduce the functional and biochemical signals of diseases especially rare ones and those that make taking muscle biopsies difficult. Bursac, along with postdoctoral researcher Lauran Madden, started with a small sample of human cells … Continue reading →