Allografts are produced in different formats. The temperature and method of storage is dependent on the type of tissue, its method of preservation, and its intended use. Methods of cold storage for tissue include refrigerated, frozen, or frozen-cryopreserved techniques, while simple ambient room temperature is appropriate for lyophilized, dehydrated, or desiccated tissues. 1 Standards have […]
Did you know that organs are also a type of allograft? We usually think of skin, tendons, bone, and heart valves as allografts, but solid organs are also allografts, which are defined as “a tissue or organ obtained from one member of a species and grafted to a genetically dissimilar member of the same species.”1 […]
CRISPR is known as a cutting-edge tool for gene editing. Would you be surprised to learn that that CRISPR originally evolved within single-celled organisms such as bacteria, as their own immune response to viruses? When viruses attack a bacterial cell, they inject their genome—their own viral DNA—into the cell. The bacterial cell, in turn, responds […]
The first commercial facility to produce induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) opened on March 22, 2018. The $340 million, 30,000 square foot facility was built by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and is designed to produce stem cells for therapeutic applications.1 Sumitomo Dainippon is currently involved in using iPSCs to create treatments for conditions including macular degeneration, […]
3D bioprinting has the potential to provide significant medical advances. For example, 3D printing of functional tissues and organs could someday alleviate shortages in organ availability and the problem of organ incompatibility. But where does the field stand today? A look at the research benches of top labs can give us an idea. In this post […]
Since the Zika outbreak first began in Brazil in late 2015,1 its spread has been of significant concern to the medical community. First identified due to the significant rise in microcephaly among newborns in Brazil…
At present, there are about 167 tissue banks operating across the United States.1 Their role is vital to ensuring the quality, safety, and availability of allografts, as tissue banks are responsible for screening…
An allograft is a tissue transplant between genetically dissimilar members of the same species1. An allograft is different from an autograft, which utilizes tissue from the same individual’s body and is…
Three-dimensional (3D) printing was developed in the early 1990s at MIT by by Sachs, Haggerty, Cima, and Williams.1 It is a freeform fabrication method that uses regular inkjet printheads to fabricate objects by printing binders onto loose powders in a powder bed.2 What can be made in 3D printing depends on what is used as […]