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Scaffolding Persuasive Speech

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Today there are nearly 5,000 people waiting for a donated heart. There are not nearly enough donated hearts to meet this demand. Unfortunately, many of these patients will die before a suitable heart is ready for them. Giving these patients a custom grown human heart is an option that would save many lives. Until very recently this was just a pipe dream.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital have finally created a beating heart using stem cell tissue. Previous research has used 3D printing technology to create heart segments out of cellular material. These segments did not have any actual heart tissue but had the proper scaffolding to anchor growing heart tissue.

This new research uses the scaffolding technique combined with stem cells to grow a heart. The new breakthrough was made using poor quality donated hearts. There were first stripped of heart tissue, leaving only the scaffolding of the heart. All of the tissue must be gone so that a potential patient won't risk rejection. …show more content…

The stem cells were engineered from typical skin cells. This technique means that heart patients would not have to worry about rejection. Their new hearts would be made of their own cells.

With the right care, they grow into new heart cells. At this point in the experiment, the researchers were able to grow into two types of heart cells. After two weeks the lab-grown cells looked like immature hearts. They were small, but complicated, much as a natural heart would be. After a little jolt of electricity, the new hearts began to beat.

The new technology is not quite ready for the public yet. The new hearts must go through more testing before they will reach those in need. The technique is still in the earliest phase. One day soon these hearts will give new life to those most in

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