A heart, before and after decellularization!! . Last post we saw a glimpse of the the past in genetics. Well this, friends, takes just that into the future with regenerative medicine ☀️☀️ Decellularization is a biomedical engineering process used to isolate the extracellular matrix (ECM) of a tissue from its inhabiting cells, leaving an ECM scaffold of the original tissue intact for artificial organ and tissue regeneration. This scaffold of connective tissue can be reseeded with a patient’s own cells, with the goal of regenerating an organ that can be transplanted into the patient -- all WITHOUT fear of tissue rejection. . The image shows a heart, before and after decellularization, where it was stripped of all native cells, leaving behind an intact vascular system and a scaffold that has been infused with stem cells. The goal is then to grow a new personalized human heart, which can be implanted into a patient! . 📸 Hodgson et al., Extracellular Matrix from Whole Porcine Heart Decellularization for Cardiac Tissue Engineering. Methods Mol Bio, 2018