Science is a beautiful thing, especially when it is used to help advance human life and well being. Over the years, Qatar has invested a lot into science and technology research and its just starting to yield fruits. 

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have made a breakthrough which could lead to personalised blood and heart tissue being created in a laboratory, reported Gulf Times.

Researcher Dr Arash Rafii Tabrizi, based in Doha, who collaborated with scientists from the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, postulates that endothelial cells — the cells that line the walls of blood vessels — are responsible for organ development.

“We hypothesised that endothelial cells are the masterminds of organ development. Different organs have different endothelial cells that express different and specific factors called angiocrine factors that lead to the development and function of the organ,” said Dr Tabrizi, whose work has been funded by Qatar National Research Fund. 

To test the theory, Dr Tabrizi and his team isolated endothelial cells and forced the expression of transcription factors using DNA vectors, according to The Peninsula.

After 20 days, the cells began to multiply and were essentially transformed into hematopoietic stem cells, which are the basis for all types of blood cells, including red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells, which are a vital part of the immune system.

The next natural step will be translate the research to a human model, to test whether the findings can be translated to tackle different human diseases.
“If you’ve leukemia, for example, we would retrieve your endothelial cells and transform that into blood. It would be an unlimited personal source of blood for each individual. However, it’s too early at this stage to make these assumptions in the absence of concrete human data,” said Dr Tabrizi.

Importantly the power of the endothelium to support cellular differentiation for blood cells is also successful with cardiac cell regeneration. By combining endothelial cells with cardiomyocytes – the heart’s muscle cells – the researchers were able to create muscle cells in a petri dish that beat together in a regular rhythm, similar to endogenous cardiomyocytes.