Dr. Williem J. Kloff
Best known as a pioneer of hemodialysis and artificial organs, Williem J Kloff was born in the Netherlands and began his work on the artificial kidney in 1938, during World War I. He later went on to move to the United States and invented the artificial kidney, or dialysis machine. In addition Kloff created the first heart-lung apparatus which aided in allowing open-heart surgery to be possible. He also helped invent the first artificical heart that was implanted into Barney Clark. Dr. Kloff published more than 600 papers and articles, and numerous books, including Artificial Organs. His achievements make him a true pioneer of synthetic organs, and got him the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, the highest honor in American medicine. He also won the Russ prize in 2003 before passing away in 2009 (1).
Tengion is a clinical stage regenerative medicine company developed in 2003.Using its Organ Regeneration Platform, Tengion is pioneering the development of products comprised of a patient's own (autologous) regenerative cells, with or without a biocompatible material component, that are implanted into the body to repair or replace a damaged tissue or organ. Tengion's products have the body's ability to regenerate a range of organs and tissues and are designed to remove the need for "chronic disease therapies, organ transplantation, and the administration of anti-rejection medications." (3)
To the right is a flow chart describing one of the innovations that tengion is working hard to apply, the artificial bladder.
Cornell University has been exceling and innovating in the field of neuroprosthetics in recent years. Dr. Shiela Nirenberg at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics from Cornell University along with her talented team, has developed a prosthetic system that has resulted in regained vision for blind mice and soon blind people. This prosthetic retina works by hooking into the optic nerve and sending signals from a camera directly to the brain. Dr. Nirenberg explains this Cornell innovation in a TED talk featured to the left side of the screen (5) (Video 3).
The history of Touch Bionics began with a program conducted at the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh from 1963, starting with research into developing prosthetic solutions for children affected by Thalidomide. By 2007 Touch Bionics had engineered the i-limb hand, the first powered prosthetic hand to incorporate moving individual fingers.Touch Bionics continues to innovate and lead the world in the development of upper limb prosthetic technologies. The company is "committed to delivering positive patient outcomes and improving the lives people with upper limb deficiencies across the world." (4)
Chicago researchers have been making important advances in that way modern prosthetics function. Recently, research done as part of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics Project at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has made progress in engineering a touch-sensitive upper-limb prosthetic that can connect to the sensory neurons in the brain to allow the the user to feel as a normal human hand could. Testing is being done on Rhesus Macaque monkeys, because they share an evolutionary relationship with human beings. They have a similar neural system to humans, allowing the Chicago scientists to take a deeper look into how they could mimic an artificial sensation of feeling. By using electrical currents, the researchers were able to apply enough pressure that the mokeys responded with the current the same way they would feel through their own fingers. (6)
ASAIO, or the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, has been around for about 55 years. The organization's main focus is is focused on creating revolutionary therapies for organ failure, including bioartificial and hybrid organs, bionics, as well as cell and genetic therapies. ASAIO is able to shorten the commercialization cycle of these thereapies by having direct access to representatives from the FDA and other funding agencies such as the NIH. Due largely to ASAIO and its members, artificial hearts, lungs, kidneys, blood vessels and joints are now in common practice and entire new fields of clinical medicine have emerged in the fields of nephrology, cardiac and vascular surgery, transplantation and intensive care (2).
ASAIO website- Project Bionics Page
Funding Agencies
Department of Human Health, USHH
The United States Department of Health and Human Services, also known as the health department, is a cabinet-level of the US federal government. This agency also provides grants for health research, such as artificial organs.
National Institutes of Health, NIH
The National Institutes of Health is one of the world's top medical research centers. The NIH's most commonly used grant program is the research project grant program, in which a grant is issued for 3 to 5 years. The NIH funds research related to health, which includes both prosthetic limbs and artificial organs. View NIH research grant types in the webpage screen below.
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