Researchers at trix (Wolburn, MA) and the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) have developed an artificial thymus that generates large quantities of human Tlymphocyte cells. Their research could lead to new therapies for cancers, viral diseases, and repairing immune systems. T cells are harvested from tumor sites, grown in culture, and then injected back into patients to boost immune response to cancer. The artificial thymus provides a three-dimensional matrix (like that in a real thymus) in which cells can mature. A porous metal and carbon material created for bone repair supports mouse thymus cells and human Tcell progenitors from bone marrow. The system makes a range of T cells rather than replicating the few that can be taken from tumors.
The company funded its research partly by a grant from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Learn more by contacting company president Mark Pykett, Cytomatrix, 50 Cummings Park, Woburn, MA 01801, 781.939.0995, fax 781.939.5707, mpykett@cytomatrix.com.
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