His research into heart tissue relates to the work of cardiac surgeon Dr. William Norwood a building away. Norwood treats are born with defective hearts requiring reconstruction. Then he studies those cells, feeds them, helps them grow and watches them rebuild. Akins hopes to implant regenerated cells into a sick mouse and, if that is successful, apply the technique to sick children. The idea is to offer doctors living tissue for use in surgical methods such as Norwood's, replacing cadaver tissue now used to help restructure tiny hearts.
Patches made of living cells grow with a child.
Only about 20 laboratories in the world are studying this kind of tissue recycling, Akins said. If they succeed, the impact could be huge, he said. Heart attack victims, for example, often have heart tissue with cells that happen to be weak. DuPont's lab and its work have grown in scope and complexity along with the hospital. In the early 1980s, about 20 scientists, researchers and support workers staffed the lab.