Anthony Atala

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Anthony Atala
Anthony Atala, Printing a Human Kidney on Stage (5507356887).jpg
Atala in 2011
Born (1958-07-14) July 14, 1958 (age 66)
Peru
Alma mater University of Miami (BS)
University of Louisville (MD)
Occupation(s)Professor and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina

Anthony Atala (born July 14, 1958) is an American bioengineer, urologist, and pediatric surgeon. He is the W.H. Boyce professor of urology, the founding director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. [1] [2] His work focuses on the science of regenerative medicine: "a practice that aims to refurbish diseased or damaged tissue using the body's own healthy cells". [3]

Contents

Dr. Atala is the creator of the first 3D bioprinters (Integrated Tissue and Organ Printing System or ITOP) and is one of the foremost leading figures in the field of organ printing. [4] [5] Atala and his team developed the first lab-grown organ (a bladder) to be implanted into a human. [6] [7] He is also developing experimental technology that can 3D print human tissue on demand. [8]

As director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Atala leads a team of more than 400 researchers dedicated to developing cell therapies and engineering replacement tissues and organs for more than 40 different areas of the body. [2]

Dr. Atala is editor of 3 journals and 25 books including Principles of Regenerative Medicine, Foundations of Regenerative Medicine, Methods of Tissue Engineering and Minimally Invasive Urology. [2] He has published over 800 journal articles and has received more than 250 national and international patents. Fifteen technology applications developed in Dr. Atala's laboratory have been used clinically. [9]

He serves on the editorial board of the scientific journal Rejuvenation Research , [10] on the national board of advisors for High Point University [11] and on the SENS Research Foundation's research advisory board. [12] He is a founding member of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) from which he received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Atala is the director of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a federally funded institute created to apply regenerative medicine. [2]

Biography

Atala was born in Peru [13] and raised in Coral Gables, Florida. [3] Atala attended the University of Miami, and he has an undergraduate degree in psychology. [14] He attended medical school at the University of Louisville, where he also completed his residency in urology. [15] He did his fellowship at the Harvard Medical School–affiliated Boston Children's Hospital from 1990 to 1992, where he trained under world-renowned pediatric urologic surgeons Alan Retik and Hardy Hendren.

Career

Atala served as the director of the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Cellular Therapeutics at Boston Children's Hospital. [16] His work there involved growing human tissues and organs to replace those damaged by disease or defect. This work became important due to shortages in the organ-donor program. [17]

Atala continued his work in tissue engineering and printable organs [18] after moving to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2004. [19]

Along with Harvard University researchers, and as described in the journal Nature Biotechnology , [20] Atala has announced that stem cells with enormous potential can be harvested from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women. These amniotic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they can be manipulated to differentiate into various types of mature cells that make up nerve, muscle, bone, and other tissues, while avoiding the problem of tumor formation and the ethical concerns associated with embryonic stem cells. [21]

With respect to the amniotic fluid stem cells ("AFS" cells), [22] Atala has said the following:

The cells come from the fetus, which breathes and sucks in, then excretes, the amniotic fluid throughout pregnancy. ... Like embryonic stem cells, they appear to thrive in lab dishes for years, while normal cells, called somatic cells, die after a time. ... They are easier to grow than human embryonic stem cells. And, unlike embryonic stem cells, they do not form a type of benign tumour called a teratoma. ... A bank with 100,000 specimens of the amniotic stem cells theoretically could supply 99 per cent of the US population with perfect genetic matches for transplants. [23]

Atala's work was seized on by opponents of the Embryonic Stem Cell Research Bill [24] (a part of the 100-Hour Plan of the Democratic Party in the 110th United States Congress) as a more moral alternative. He wrote a letter saying, inter alia, "Some may be interpreting my research as a substitute for the need to pursue other forms of regenerative medicine therapies, such as those involving embryonic stem cells. I disagree with that assertion." [25]

Awards

Atala has been widely recognized for his scientific contributions. His faculty website lists awards and citations including: [9] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stem cell</span> Undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells

In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell in a cell lineage. They are found in both embryonic and adult organisms, but they have slightly different properties in each. They are usually distinguished from progenitor cells, which cannot divide indefinitely, and precursor or blast cells, which are usually committed to differentiating into one cell type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tissue engineering</span> Biomedical engineering discipline

Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biological tissues. Tissue engineering often involves the use of cells placed on tissue scaffolds in the formation of new viable tissue for a medical purpose, but is not limited to applications involving cells and tissue scaffolds. While it was once categorized as a sub-field of biomaterials, having grown in scope and importance, it can is considered as a field of its own.

Organ culture is the cultivation of either whole organs or parts of organs in vitro. It is a development from tissue culture methods of research, as the use of the actual in vitro organ itself allows for more accurate modelling of the functions of an organ in various states and conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amniotic fluid</span> Fluid surrounding a fetus within the amnion

The amniotic fluid is the protective liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a gravid amniote. This fluid serves as a cushion for the growing fetus, but also serves to facilitate the exchange of nutrients, water, and biochemical products between mother and fetus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regenerative medicine</span> Field of medicine involved in regenerating tissues

Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by stimulating the body's own repair mechanisms to functionally heal previously irreparable tissues or organs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stem-cell line</span> Culture of stem cells that can be propagated indefinitely

A stem cell line is a group of stem cells that is cultured in vitro and can be propagated indefinitely. Stem cell lines are derived from either animal or human tissues and come from one of three sources: embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells. They are commonly used in research and regenerative medicine.

The stem cell controversy concerns the ethics of research involving the development and use of human embryos. Most commonly, this controversy focuses on embryonic stem cells. Not all stem cell research involves human embryos. For example, adult stem cells, amniotic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells do not involve creating, using, or destroying human embryos, and thus are minimally, if at all, controversial. Many less controversial sources of acquiring stem cells include using cells from the umbilical cord, breast milk, and bone marrow, which are not pluripotent.

The two main methods for replacing bladder function involve either redirecting urine flow or replacing the bladder in situ. Replacement can be done with an artificial urinary bladder, an artificial organ.

An amniotic epithelial cell is a form of stem cell extracted from the lining of the inner membrane of the placenta. Amniotic epithelial cells start to develop around 8 days post fertilization. These cells are known to have some of the same markers as embryonic stem cells, more specifically, Oct-4 and nanog. These transcription factors are the basis of the pluripotency of stem cells. Amniotic epithelial cells have the ability to develop into any of the three germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. They can develop into several organ tissues specific to these germ layers including heart, brain, and liver. The pluripotency of the human amniotic epithelial cells makes them useful in treating and fighting diseases and disorders of the nervous system as well as other tissues of the human body. Artificial heart valves and working tracheas, as well as muscle, fat, bone, heart, neural and liver cells have all been engineered using amniotic stem cells. Tissues obtained from amniotic cell lines show promise for patients with congenital diseases or malformations of the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and cerebral tissue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lanza</span> American medical doctor and scientist

Robert Lanza is an American medical doctor and scientist, currently Head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He is an Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

In biology, explant culture is a technique to organotypically culture cells from a piece or pieces of tissue or organ removed from a plant or animal. The term explant can be applied to samples obtained from any part of the organism. The extraction process is extensively sterilized, and the culture can be typically used for two to three weeks.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is a research institute affiliated with Wake Forest School of Medicine and located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States

Amniotic stem cells are the mixture of stem cells that can be obtained from the amniotic fluid as well as the amniotic membrane. They can develop into various tissue types including skin, cartilage, cardiac tissue, nerves, muscle, and bone. The cells also have potential medical applications, especially in organ regeneration.

An amniotic stem cell bank is a facility that stores stem cells derived from amniotic fluid for future use. Stem cell samples in private banks are stored specifically for use by the individual person from whom such cells have been collected and the banking costs are paid by such person. The sample can later be retrieved only by that individual and for the use by such individual or, in many cases, by her or his first-degree blood relatives. In case of amniotic fluid stem cell banking, the mother providing the donation initially has ownership of the stem cells and financial responsibility for its storage. When the child from that pregnancy reaches legal age, the ownership and responsibility for the sample may be transferred. The first private amniotic stem cell bank in the US was opened by Bio cell Center in October 2009 in Medford, Massachusetts.

MIRA is a multidisciplinary and complementary method for treating many chronic diseases. The MIRA Procedure is a result of combining efforts from different medical fields developed in the University of Chicago in 1992. It basically consists in medically grafting live rejuvenated tissue in the form of autologous adipose adult stem cells to a damaged organ in order to restore it and improve its function. This method is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Tengion, Inc. is an American development-stage regenerative medicine company founded in 2003 with financing from J&J Development Corporation, HealthCap and Oak Investment Partners, which is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Its goals are discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing a range of replacement organs and tissues, or neo-organs and neo-tissues, to address unmet medical needs in urologic, renal, gastrointestinal, and vascular diseases and disorders. The company creates these human neo-organs from a patient’s own cells or autologous cells, in conjunction with its Organ Regeneration Platform.

Genital regeneration encompasses various forms of treatment for genital anomalies. The goal of these treatments is to restore form and function to male and female genitalia by taking advantage of innate responses in the body. In order to do this, doctors have experimented with stem cells and extracellular matrix to provide a framework for regenerating missing structures. More research is needed to successfully move the science from laboratory trials to routine procedures.

Regeneration in humans is the regrowth of lost tissues or organs in response to injury. This is in contrast to wound healing, or partial regeneration, which involves closing up the injury site with some gradation of scar tissue. Some tissues such as skin, the vas deferens, and large organs including the liver can regrow quite readily, while others have been thought to have little or no capacity for regeneration following an injury.

Charles Alfred "Chuck" Vacanti is a researcher in tissue engineering and stem cells and the Vandam/Covino Professor of Anesthesiology, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School. He is a former head of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, now retired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. S. Sangwan</span> Indian ophthalmologist

Virender Singh Sangwan is an Indian ophthalmologist and the Dr. Paul Dubord Chair professor and director of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. Known for his research on limbal stem cells, Sangwan is the founder secretary and an adviser of the Uveitis Society of India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2006.

References

  1. ↑ "Anthony Atala, MD, Professor and Director - WFIRM". wfirm.org. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Wake Forest Innovations. Our Experts: Anthony Atala". Wakeforestinnovations. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Scientist at Work: Anthony Atala. A Tissue Engineer Sows Cells and Grows Organs". Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Need a New Organ? Surgeon Anthony Atala Sees a Future Where You Can Simply Print It Out". Smithsonianmag. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Facilitating 3D Organ Printing with Plant-Based BioInks". Pharma's Almanac. 2016. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Lab-grown bladders 'a milestone'". April 3, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2017– via news.bbc.co.uk.
  7. ↑ Atala A, Bauer SB, Soker S, Yoo JJ, Retik AB (April 2006). "Tissue-engineered autologous bladders for patients needing cystoplasty". Lancet. 367 (9518): 1241–6. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68438-9 . PMID   16631879. S2CID   17892321.
  8. ↑ "Anthony Atala: Surgeon". Ted. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Anthony Atala, MD. Professor, Urology. Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine". Wakehealth. Archived from the original on February 8, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Rejuvenation Research. Editorial Board". Mary Ann Liebert. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  11. ↑ "High Point University National Board of Advisors".
  12. ↑ SENS Research Foundation Research Advisory Board
  13. ↑ Parson, Ann (July 11, 2006). "A Tissue Engineer Sows Cells and Grows Organs". The New York Times . Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  14. ↑ Nash, Leonard (2004). "Anthony Atala Is Pioneering Organic Growth". Miami Magazine. Archived from the original on March 30, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  15. ↑ Svoboda, Elizabeth (December 2006). "The Organ Farmer". Popular Science . 269 (6): 101.
  16. ↑ "Physdetail". Archived from the original on December 30, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Artificial organs could be a growing field - Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology". masshightech.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue" . Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  19. ↑ "News Releases". www1.wfubmc.edu. Archived from the original on October 11, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  20. ↑ De Coppi, Paolo; Bartsch, Georg; Siddiqui, M Minhaj; Xu, Tao; Santos, Cesar C.; Perin, Laura; Mostoslavsky, Gustavo; Serre, Angéline C.; Snyder, Evan Y.; Yoo, James J.; Furth, Mark E.; Soker, Shay; Atala, Anthony (2007). "Isolation of amniotic stem cell lines with potential for therapy". Nature Biotechnology. 25 (1): 100–106. doi:10.1038/nbt1274. PMID   17206138. S2CID   6676167.
  21. ↑ Weiss, Rick (January 8, 2007). "Scientists See Potential In Amniotic Stem Cells" . Retrieved September 28, 2017– via www.washingtonpost.com.
  22. ↑ "An Easy Cell - AEI". Archived from the original on August 23, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  23. ↑ "New stem cell source found, say scientists". www.smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. January 8, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Speaker Nancy Pelosi | Current Legislation". Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
  25. ↑ House Resumes Stem Cell Research Debate
  26. ↑ Reddy, Raghuram; Swayze, Aden; Stevens, Tupper; Moul, Judd W.; Ramasamy, Ranjith (May 2024). "Celebrating pioneers in urology: The Gold Cystoscope Award through the ages". Journal of Urology. 211 (5S). doi:10.1097/01.JU.0001008760.25751.09.02. ISSN   0022-5347.
  27. ↑ "2016 American Ingenuity Award Winners". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Anthony Atala, MD, Director and Chair". Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
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