Photo: The Kidney Project, UCSF
A new artificial kidney that could be used instead of patients receiving a kidney transplant has come closer to realisation after the team behind the invention were awarded $650,000 prize from KidneyX, a US Government-private partnership that seeks to eradicate and cure kidney disease.
The team, known as The Kidney Project, have created an artificial kidney that could be implanted into an individual, stopping the need for a kidney transplant. In many cases, individuals with kidney disease or kidney failure must be given continual dialysis sessions to clean their blood until they are given a new donor kidney. Waiting lists are often long and, unfortunately, many patients die before receiving a kidney. This new machine by the Kidney Project could solve all these issues.
The machine is made up of a hemofilter which removes waste toxins and toxins from the blood, just like a real kidney, and a bioreactor, which helps balance electrolytes and other kidney functions. The device is roughly the size of a cell phone and can easily be placed inside a human being.
A faculty member of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine told reporters:
"The vision for the artificial kidney is to provide patients with complete mobility and better physiological outcomes than dialysis. It promises a much higher quality of life for millions worldwide with kidney failure."
They continued:
"Our team engineered the artificial kidney to sustainably support a culture of human kidney cells without provoking an immune response. Now that we have demonstrated the feasibility of combining the hemofilter and bioreactor, we can focus on upscaling the technology for more rigorous preclinical testing, and ultimately, clinical trials."
UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean B. Joseph Guglielmo added:
"This award is a testament to The Kidney Project's bold vision and execution of a viable solution for millions of patients with kidney failure."
Kidney disease kills around 50,000 Americans every single year and there are currently an estimated 100,000 people in the US on the kidney transplant waiting list. If an artificial kidney was given the greenlight, it could change the lives of so many of these individuals.
[h/t: Good News Network]
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