{"id":41627,"date":"2023-02-03T15:38:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T20:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/?p=41627"},"modified":"2024-11-24T13:40:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T18:40:57","slug":"textiles-researchers-prepare-stem-cells-to-become-organ-tissue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2023\/02\/textiles-researchers-prepare-stem-cells-to-become-organ-tissue\/","title":{"rendered":"Textiles Researchers Prepare Stem Cells to Become Organ Tissue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 3,000 people died waiting for an organ transplant in 2022, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and more than 100,000 people remain on the waitlist. Envisioning a future without the need for donor organs, an NC State researcher is laying the foundation to grow stem cells into replacement organ tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n

Jessica M. Gluck<\/a>, an assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science<\/a> in the Wilson College of Textiles<\/a>, studies microenvironments in the human body. These microenvironments foster cell growth and activity, and they have different physical and mechanical properties depending on where in the body they are. <\/p>\n\n\n

Gluck\u2019s lab<\/a> experiments with nanofibrous materials to create scaffolding that can transfer stem cells into the body. Cells taken from an individual can be essentially reprogrammed into embryonic-like stem cells. The stem cells are pluripotent, so they can regenerate into any cell in the body. Gluck and her team alter the nanofibrous scaffolding\u2019s properties to mimic certain microenvironments, which in turn encourages the stem cells to become a specific type of cell or grow into a specific tissue. <\/p>\n\n\n