| Projects |
| Diseases
desperate grown |
| By
desperate appliance are relieved, |
| Or
not at all. |
| William
Shakespeare Hamlet Act IV, Scene 3 |
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Most
bioartificial liver support systems are based on hollow fiber capillaries
within modified dialysis cartridges or more sophisticated bioreactor
constructions. Due to their design microscopic follow-up of re-organization
and growth of tissue between the hollow fibers is not possible.The
SlideReactor is a simple hollow fiber based bioreactor construction
suitable for light microscopy and time-lapse video observation.
The device enables the characterization of cell behavior under
controlled conditions and the analysis of the influence of medium
supplements on the cell viability and tissue integrity. It may
be useful for the comparison of different types of hollow fibers,
e.g. for future use in bioreactor-based extracorporeal liver assist
devices.
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Transplantation of primary human hepatocytes is
a promising approach in certain liver diseases. For visualisation
of hepatocytes during and following cell application and the ability
of a timely response to potential complications, a non-invasive modality
for imaging of the transplanted cells has to be established. The
feasibility of preparing MPIO-labelled primary human hepatocytes
detectable by clinical MR equipment was shown in vitro. MPIO-labelled
cells could serve for basic research and quality control in the clinical
setting of human hepatocyte transplantation.
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Some
promising therapeutic approaches in Regenerative Medicine, namely
extracorporeal liver support and liver cell transplantation,
are based on the use of primary human liver cells in order to
support or replace the liver function. Various studies have been
directed towards the development of methods for the storage and
the effective cryopreservation of primary human liver cells.
The successful establishment of methods for the long-term storage
of human hepatocytes would largely facilitate the therapeutic
usage of the cells, considering the irregular availability of
human liver tissue. Current cryopreservation techniques need
to be optimized in order to establish suitable conditions for
freezing, thawing and subsequent culture or transplantation of
human hepatocytes.
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The
Modular Extracorporeal Liver Support (MELS) concept combines
different extracorporeal therapy units, tailored to suit the
individual and intra-individual clinical needs of the patient.
A multi-compartment bioreactor (CellModule) is loaded
with human liver cells obtained by collagenase liver perfusion.
A cell mass of 400 – 600g enables the clinical application
of a liver lobe equivalent hybrid organ. A detoxification module
(DetoxModule) enables single pass albumin-dialysis via
a standard high-flux dialysis filter. Continuous veno-venuous
hemodiafiltration may be included if required.
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The
understanding that the critical issue of the clinical syndrome
in liver failure is the accumulation of toxins not cleared
by the failing liver led to the development of artificial
filtration and adsorption devices. Based on this hypothesis,
the removal of lipophylic, albumin-bound substances such
as bilirubin, bile acids, metabolites of aromatic amino acids,
medium-chain fatty acids and cytokines should be beneficial
to the clinical course of a patient in liver failure. Various
techniques (e.g. Single Pass Albumin Dialysis [SPAD], Molecular
Adsorbent Recirculating System [MARS]®,
Prometheus®)
are subject to in vitro and in vivo evaluation.
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The
first human liver transplantation (LTx) was performed by T.
E. Starzl in 1963. Due to improvements in surgical techniques,
the introduction of new immunosuppressants, the prolongation
of the ischemic tolerance and the experience with indications
and timing LTx has become an accepted clinical method in cases
of end-stage liver diseases.The majority of LTx are performed
orthotopically, heterotopic transplantations are reserved for
special indications like acute liver failure and metabolic
diseases. The shortage of donor organs lead to the development
of techniques like transplantation of reduced-size organs,
transplantation of „split-livers“ and living-related
LTx.
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An
electromechanical energy converting system has been developed
to yield an efficient and durable orthotopic total artificial
heart (TAH). The energy converter transforms the unidirectional
rotational motion of the motor into a longitudinal forward-reverse
movement of an internal geared oval, linked directly to
pusher plates on both sides. Motor, gear unit and conical
shaped pusher plates are seated between alternately ejecting
and filling ventricles. The unidirectional motion of the
motor affords easier motor control, reduces energy demand
and ensures a longer life of the motor compared to bi-directional
motion.
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Appropriate
software tools may improve communication and ease access to
knowledge for research groups. A weblog is a website which
contains periodic, chronologically ordered posts on a common
webpage, whereas a wiki is hypertext based collaborative software
that enables documents to be authored collectively using a
web browser. Although not primarily intended for use as an
intranet-based collaborative knowledge warehouse, both blogs
and wikis, have the potential to offer all the features of
complex and expensive IT-solutions. These tools enable the
team members to share knowledge simply and fast - the collective
knowledge base of the group can be efficiently managed and
navigated.We would like to encourage the use of these simple
and affordable tools for communication and knowledge management.
Due to their structure they can be easily integrated in already
existing intranet and internet-solutions.
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