In the most recent work, the lab is using a technique Ott helped develop called lung regeneration, transforming lungs from rats and pigs into human--compatible ones. Though rat lungs aren’t suitable as human transplants, they provide an excellent means to test the regeneration procedure.

The first organs the Ott Lab used for testing came from rats. Rat lungs like these are still used because their cells can be removed in just two hours.

Three rat lungs are tested in an incubator under different conditions to find the best process for regenerating the organs.

“I feel something we all share here is the belief this really could work.”

Ott originally began to develop this technique while studying at the University of Minnesota (see “Creating a heart”). In the decade since then, his lab has made strides in deciphering the conditions under which stem cells develop into functioning organs.

So far the team has been able to transplant organs re-created with human stem cells back into pigs and rats. Given that the organs have human cells foreign to the animals, they stay alive for only about a week. But the experiments are evidence that these organs can work in a living organism.