--- title: "Scientists Create Lab-Grown Heart Tissue" description: "[![Decellularized Mouse Heart. Image Credit: Lu et. al]()]() *Decellularized Mouse Heart. Image Credit: Lu et. al*" date: "2014-10-08" modified: "2014-10-08" authors: - name: "Jolene Creighton" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jolene-creighton" url: "https://futurism.com/scientists-create-lab-grown-heart-tissue" categories: - "From Quarks to Quasars" --- # Scientists Create Lab-Grown Heart Tissue ![]() [![Decellularized Mouse Heart. Image Credit: Lu et. al]()]() *Decellularized Mouse Heart. Image Credit: Lu et. al* Recently, a team of scientists created lab-grown human heart tissue that can beat on its own. This research was just published in a new study in [Nature Communications](); however, it stems from work started in 2008. Some six years ago, a University of Minnesota study showed that the original cells from a rat heart could be completely flushed out of the heart in a process called "decellularization." After this process is completed, the old rat cells can be replaced by rat cells from a newborn as a means of regenerating the heart. Now, this process has allowed scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to grow working human heart tissue within the decellurized structure of a mouse heart. ## WATCH: Lab-Grown Heart Beats By Itself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxzL5nFOZFw Next, the team hopes to create just a portion of the heart, which could be used to replace parts of a damaged heart. Eventually, this could lead to personalized organ transplants. ### READ NEXT: Scientists Find Vaccine That Completely Blocks HIV Infection in Monkeys ### Author social links [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Twitter]()