Stem cells to grow heart valve cells

Further to Timothy Johnson reporting on ABC Evening News on March 25 initial research results on the use of adult stem cells to treat cardiac patients, there is different work reported within the Guardian:

By using chemical and physical nudges, the scientists first coaxed stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow into heart valve cells. By placing these cells into scaffolds made of collagen, Dr Chester and his colleague Patricia Taylor then grew small 3cm-wide discs of heart valve tissue. Later this year, that tissue will be implanted into animals - probably sheep or pigs - and monitored to see how well it works as part of a circulatory system.

The time scale for utilization is three-to-five years:

If that trial works well, Prof Yacoub is optimistic that the replacement heart tissue, which can be grown into the shape of a human heart valve using specially-designed collagen scaffolds, could be used in patients within three to five years.

Prior IPBiz post:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/03/abc-news-mentions-cardiac-treatment.html

There is a video available, under the title "Stem Cells Yield Heart Hope. A Study Shows Adult Stem Cells, Not Embryos, Could Help Treat Heart Damage." The URL for the video is http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2980424.