New tissue-engineered blood vessel replacements one step closer to human trials

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a new lab-grown blood vessel replacement that is composed completely of biological materials, but surprisingly doesn't contain any living cells at implantation. The vessel, that could be used as an "off the shelf" graft for kidney dialysis patients, performed well in a recent study with nonhuman primates.

It is the first-of-its-kind nonsynthetic, decellularized graft that becomes repopulated with cells by the recipient's own cells when implanted. The discovery could help tens of thousands of kidney dialysis patients each year.

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