Illustration: ikonaut

C. The implant
The implant can then grow along with the child. The first clinical trials with this bypass are planned for this year.

3. The goal: the vessel should grow with the body
The defective new-born heart is modified in three operations. In the last of them, the tissue implant of LifeMatrix is inserted around the heart like a bypass that optimises the circulation of the sick heart. The child’s own cells now grow through the vascular prosthesis made of polymers and proteins.

B. Matrix of biodegradable polymers
All cell structures that could trigger an immune reaction, such as DNA and membrane, are then removed from the tissue. What remains is a matrix made of degradable polymers (the long green threads seen here) and protein structures (small, red net-like structures). From these, off-the-shelf blood vessels and heart valves can be produced cheaply.

2. The idea: biomimetic material
At Wyss Zurich, LifeMatrix, a spin-off company of the University of Zurich, is developing tissue for implants that is as close as possible to the real thing. Human donor cells are used as a kind of machine to produce it. They are cultivated in a bioreactor on a framework made of biodegradable polymers.

A. Heart chamber too small
The baby needs a vessel implant made of plastic. But artificial materials can trigger infections and thrombosis; they can’t regenerate, and don’t grow with the child. That means the baby has a life full of operations ahead of it.

1. The problem: plastic implants
Five out of 100,000 children are born with a single ventricle defect – a heart problem in which one chamber is not big enough to work properly.