An important step for science was achieved today when a team of scientists was able to create an actual beating heart in a lab. This is a vital step forward towards the ability to replicate human organs for transplants in the future. Researchers at the University of Minnesota successfully grew the heart of rat by using stem cells.

The process towards creating this beating heart was complicated and required numerous techniques. First, they removed all of the dead cells from a dead rat’s heart. They left behind the valves and the outer tissue to act as a template for the new heart. Once this was completed, new stem cells were injected. In just two weeks, these cells joined together to grow a new heart that was able to beat, pump blood and even produce electrical impulses.

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A new research team announced today that they may have discovered a new way to fight HIV. They worked to isolate 270 human proteins that are essential for the AIDS virus to attack the immune system. This new discovery will give scientists a lot more ammunition to discover methods of effectively stopping HIV in its tracks.

This discovery is very important for several reasons. First, at least 200 of these proteins were not believed to be part of the process, but now researchers have identified them and found out how they work to give AIDS inroads into a patient’s body. These new proteins were discovered by using a “genome wide scan,” a new technology that was recently developed.

Previously, it was thought that AIDS could only be targeted with drugs that interrupt one of the main steps found in the virus life cycle. This new find opens up several doors that suggest there could be several other ways to treat the virus. “This is likely destined to be on the best papers on HIV for this coming decade,” commented Robert C. Gallo. He is the co-discoverer of the AIDS virus. He added, “I think it is terrific.” Gallo was not involved in this study, but appears to be cheered by its results.

continue reading A New Way to Fight HIV Discovered