Cotton Candy Machine For Making Artificial Organs

Cotton Candy Machines May Hold Key for Making Artificial Organs

Engineers have modified the cotton candy machine to create complex microfluidic networks that mimic the capillary system in living tissue and have demonstrated that these networks can keep cells alive and functioning in an artificial three-dimensional matrix.

Science Daily | February 8, 2016



For several years, Leon Bellan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University, has been tinkering with cotton candy machines, getting them to spin out networks of tiny threads comparable in size, density and complexity to the patterns formed by capillaries -- the tiny, thin-walled vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells and carry away waste. His goal has been to make fiber networks that can be used as templates to produce the capillary systems required to create full-scale artificial organs."

Source: https://youtu.be/Yf3JIaFxZVQ

<more at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160208140723.htm; related links: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/02/cotton-candy-machines-may-hold-key-for-making-artificial-organs/ (+Video) (Cotton candy machines may hold key for making artificial organs. A $40 cotton candy machine could lead to next-gen artificial organs. February 8, 2016) and http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/2016020819480059.html (Cotton Candy Machines May Hold Key for Making Artificial Organs. February 8, 2016)>