Tissue-engineered Human Heart Muscle from stem cells for Screening and for Heart Repair
Heart tissue engineering using stem cells is a recently developed technique to construct a three dimensional cell/tissue structure from progenitor cells. Those engineered tissues can be either used for in vitro screenings (e.g. drug or toxicology screenings) or as a therapeutic tool to replace damaged or diseased tissue (regenerative medicine). Scientists at the University of Göttingen developed two new and fully defined methods for serum-free production of human engineered heart muscles (EHM) either from pre-differentiated cardiomyocytes or directly from undifferentiated stem cells. This will uniquely allow cardiological screening by measurement of muscular contraction (inotropic effects) on human tissue for the first time.
Improved PCR Diagnostic for detection of Paratuberculosis (or Johne’s disease)
Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the organism responsible for a chronic, intestinal inflammatory disease found in domestic livestock, including cattle, deer, sheep and goats. Infection generally occurs early in life, and many infected animals become chronic carriers. Unless testing is done, paratuberculosis or Johne’s disease can exist undetected in a herd for years. Furthermore, MAP has also been implicated as a possible cause of Crohn’s disease in humans. Scientists at the University of Göttingen developed an improved PCR diagnostic test for fast and early detection of Paratuberculosis.
New Genetic Test for Bleeding disorders in Dogs
Genetic tests are playing an increasingly important role in today’s dog breeding. They allow breeders to improve targeted mating in order to avoid genetic diseases in offsprings. In the past, intense selection for specific desirable traits and dog types has promoted a large number of genetic defects, which are passed on without any monitoring possibilities. Especially autosomal recessive mutations have been shown to cause essential problems for several dog breeds as genetic carriers cannot be phenotypically detected without any genetic testing.
New Genetic Test for Shar-Pei Autoinflammatory Disease (SPAID)
SPAID is a spontaneously occurring autoinflammatory disease in Shar-Pei dogs. It is characterized by recurrent signs of inflammation like fever, swollen joints, reddened skin, ear problems, arthritis. SPAID can even lead to amyloidosis and kidney failure. The dogs with SPAID may experience one or more of these problems.