1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
Israel and the crisis in the Middle EastTrump inaugurationGerman election 2025
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV

A New Heart Grown from Stem Cells

Sandra VoglreiterAugust 5, 2013

Researchers in Heidelberg are trying to engineer human hearts for transplanting. To head off the risk of organ rejection, they hope to build it using stem cells from the future recipient.

https://p.dw.com/p/19K6d
Herztransplantation in der Schweiz Die Ärzte verfolgen am 29. Januar 2004 im Inselspital in einem Operationssaal die Lebensfunktionen ihres Patienten auf dem Elektrokardiogramm. Nach der Transplantation muss das Spenderherz seine Funktion wieder aufnehmen. Foto: Gaetan Bally +++(c) dpa - Report+++
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb

The scaffold the cells are to grow on is taken from a pig's heart. But the researchers caution that decades may pass before they produce a functioning human heart. Should the new method prove successful, it would be used primarily to create replacement organs for the lungs, liver or kidneys.

Skip next section Explore more

Explore more

Watch video

Watch video

Researchers in Heidelberg are trying to engineer human hearts for transplanting. To head off the risk of organ rejection, they hope to build it using stem cells from the future recipient. The scaffold the cells are to grow on is taken from a pig's heart. But the researchers caution that decades may pass before they produce a functioning human heart.
ScienceAugust 5, 201305:04 min