Instead, he decided to go for a long shot – a kidney and pancreas transplant – that would give him a higher priority on the organ recipient waiting list. Bowman's decision paid off; he waited only eight months to get the organs.
Though a second pancreas transplant was later necessary, Bowman improved his condition from Type 1 to Type 2 diabetes, reducing the amount of insulin he needs. While he considers his transplant experience successful, Bowman is fully aware of the worldwide organ shortage. Now, he speaks to groups, encouraging them to sign up as organ donors.
Many people respond to the need, but the large demand for organs and the technology to store them have combined to create "a transplantation crisis." Thousands of patients die every year waiting for compatible organ donations.
On the front lines to combat this crisis are tissue engineers who hope their research will one day provide living tissue and organ substitutes. The Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues (GTEC) – begun in 1998 and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and matching grants from the institutions and the Georgia Research Alliance – is on the leading edge of this effort.
courtesy of Bresagen Inc.
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courtesy of Stephanie Kladakis
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A shortage in donor organs has led to a transplantation crisis. Researchers at the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues are confronting the crisis with research to develop bioartificial tissues and organs. In one project, researchers are exploring the potential of human embryonic stem cells (top) to engineer endothelial cells (bottom) that line blood vessels. A patient's body would accept the resulting cells.
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"Tissue engineering is of great importance in confronting the transplantation crisis," says GTEC director Robert Nerem. "Patient need far exceeds donor availability – in fact, by a 10-to-1 ratio for the heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas. So we are moving toward technologies that address those vital needs, such as an artificial liver and heart components. Then the need for transplants will dramatically decrease."
Nerem defines the engineering of living tissues as "the development of biological substitutes for implantation into the body and/or the fostering of tissue regeneration and remodeling, with the purpose being to replace, repair, maintain or enhance function."
GTEC researchers are developing enabling technologies to help tissue engineering achieve its full potential, Nerem explains. Their work includes basic and applied research, the development of intellectual property and technology transfer.
In defining its mission, GTEC and its biotechnology industry partners identified three areas where critical core technologies are needed before industry can develop products for the market (which is predicted to exceed $50 billion a year by 2020).
These areas are:
- Cell technologies, such as methods for cell sourcing, control and function.
- Construct technologies, which are methods for incorporating cells into structures that mimic native tissue in architecture and function, the manufacturing of these structures and the ability to make them available off the shelf.
- Integration of engineered tissues into living systems, which deals with implantation, and immune and other biological responses.
GTEC researchers are developing these technologies for three types of tissue – cardiovascular components, such as blood vessels and later, heart valve parts and myocardial patches; orthopedic tissues, primarily bone; and metabolic and secretory organs, such as the pancreas and later, the liver.
The first three years of GTEC research – funded to date for $6.85 million from NSF – have yielded promising results. Still, the payoff for this investment – predicted to total $23.8 million by 2006 – and the potential relief for the transplantation crisis is at least 10 years in the future.
"There's never going to be a dramatic increase in the number of donor organs available," Nerem says. "The demand will still be there. Tissue engineering could provide a way to dramatically increase the supply. Yes, it's a long way off. But the impact will be enormous."
For more information, contact Robert Nerem, Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues, 315 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0363. (Telephone: 404-894-2768) (E-mail: robert.nerem@ibb.gatech.edu).
For information on organ donation, see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' organ donation Web site at www.organdonor.gov or call 301-443-7577 to request a donor card. In Georgia, you may contact LifeLink at 404-266-8884 or www.lifelinkfound.org.
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Last updated: Nov. 12, 2001
