Video: Hybrid heart

A “decellularised” pig’s heart A pig’s heart before the process of decellularisation (Image: courtesy of the University of Minnesota) A pig’s heart undergoing decellularisation in the lab (Image: courtesy of the University of Minnesota) A re-celled rat’s heart (Image: courtesy of the University of Minnesota) A rat heart undergoing decellularisation (top three images), and during recellularisation (bottom) (Image: courtesy of the University of Minnesota)

“IT’S amazing, absolutely beautiful,” says Doris Taylor, describing the latest addition to an array of tiny thumping hearts that sit in her lab, hooked up to an artificial blood supply.

The rat hearts …