Study validates Wyss Institute compound for placing mammalian tissues into ‘hiberation’
SAN ANTONIO, April 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To enhance its research on extending the viability of organs outside the body for the purpose of organ transplant, Vascular Perfusion Solutions (VPS) has entered into a collaboration with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the U.S. Air Force to study a compound discovered by the Institute to induce biostasis – a type of metabolic hibernation that places living cells into a state of suspended animation. VPS is the creator of the VP.S Encore™ device, a novel, self-contained transport device that uses oxygen to preserve vascularized tissue for more than eight hours, enabling hearts to remain viable beyond the current standard of care.
“We were very excited when the invitation came to partner with the Wyss Institute. We saw the potential for synergy between the two technologies, and said ‘yes’ right away,” said Mark Muller, J.D., the CEO of VPS.
For the past 50 years, organs and other tissues have been preserved by cooling them down to the point where cells’ metabolism slows enough to extend their lifespan, allowing human organs such as hearts to be kept viable for approximately four to six hours outside the body. However, this time becomes a significant obstacle when organs must travel long distances from their donors to their recipients. The Wyss Institute’s biostasis-inducing compound and the VP.S Encore™ device both circumvent this problem because they can operate at room temperature, and showed promising results in a 2020 large animal pilot study funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
“Our hope is that this study will further validate technologies from both organizations, uncover their potential to help extend the limited window of opportunity to treat people suffering from traumatic injuries, and increase the quality and extent of their recovery,” said Mike Super, Ph.D., a Lead Senior Staff Scientist at the Wyss Institute who manages the Institute’s Biostasis project.
The Wyss Institute team led by its Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. (who is also the principal investigator of the DARPA Biostasis grant), the U.S. Air Force 59th Medical Wing collaborators, and VPS researchers presented the results of their pilot study to DARPA officials, who were impressed and agreed to allocate an additional $1.8 million to fund a larger study to validate the results from the pilot study. Beginning in 2022, the new funds from DARPA will be used to test more Wyss-discovered compounds on different tissue types, including muscle flaps and whole hearts, using the VPS medical device in collaboration with the 59TH Medical Wing. This effort will be led by Col. Erik Weitzel, M.D., Chief of Operational Medicine in the US Air Force’s 59th Medical Wing, and Thomas Percival, M.D, Staff Cardiothoracic Surgeon working in collaboration with Ingber, Super and their Wyss team.