Researchers at Massachusetts’s Worcester Polytechnic Institute have found a way to convert spinach leaves into human heart tissue that can beat, according to a new Chicago Tribune article.
The findings were published in the journal Biomaterals. The researchers stripped green spinach leaves of their cells, which turned them translucent. Then they seeded the gaps that the plant cells left with human tissue, and they were able to beat for up to three weeks.
"One of the big problems in engineering heart muscle is getting blood flow to all of the cells," said Glenn Gaudette, an investigator on the research and a professor of biomedical engineering at WPI. "Heart muscle is pretty thick."
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Senior Writer
As a Senior Writer for TriMed Media Group, Katherine primarily focuses on producing news stories, Q&As and features for Cardiovascular Business. She reports on several facets of the cardiology industry, including emerging technology, new clinical trials and findings, and quality initiatives among providers. She is based out of TriMed's Chicago office and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in Modern Healthcare, Crain's Chicago Business and The Detroit News. She joined TriMed in 2016.