More Like this

1. Multi-Organ Exchange

   https://doi.org/10.1613/jair.4919  

   Dickerson, John P.; Sandholm, Tuomas (September 2017, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research)

   Kidney exchange, where candidates with organ failure trade incompatible but willing donors, is a life-saving alternative to the deceased donor waitlist, which has inadequate supply to meet demand. While fielded kidney exchanges see huge benefit from altruistic kidney donors (who give an organ without a paired needy candidate), a significantly higher medical risk to the donor deters similar altruism with livers. In this paper, we begin by exploring the idea of large-scale liver exchange, and show on demographically accurate data that vetted kidney exchange algorithms can be adapted to clear such an exchange at the nationwide level. We then propose cross-organ donation where kidneys and livers can be bartered for each other. We show theoretically that this multi-organ exchange provides linearly more transplants than running separate kidney and liver exchanges. This linear gain is a product of altruistic kidney donors creating chains that thread through the liver pool; it exists even when only a small but constant portion of the donors on the kidney side of the pool are willing to donate a liver lobe. We support this result experimentally on demographically accurate multi-organ exchanges. We conclude with thoughts regarding the fielding of a nationwide liver or joint liver-kidney exchange from a legal and computational point of view. 

   more » « less
2. Organ Evolution: Emergence of Multicellular Function

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111822-121620  

   Parker, Joseph (October 2024, Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology)

   Instances of multicellularity across the tree of life have fostered the evolution of complex organs composed of distinct cell types that cooperate, producing emergent biological functions. How organs originate is a fundamental evolutionary problem that has eluded deep mechanistic and conceptual understanding. Here I propose a cell- to organ-level transitions framework, whereby cooperative division of labor originates and becomes entrenched between cell types through a process of functional niche creation, cell-type subfunctionalization, and irreversible ratcheting of cell interdependencies. Comprehending this transition hinges on explaining how these processes unfold molecularly in evolving populations. Recent single-cell transcriptomic studies and analyses of terminal fate specification indicate that cellular functions are conferred by modular gene expression programs. These discrete components of functional variation may be deployed or combined within cells to introduce new properties into multicellular niches, or partitioned across cells to establish division of labor. Tracing gene expression program evolution at the level of single cells in populations may reveal transitions toward organ complexity. 

   more » « less
3. Is the Mole Rat Vomeronasal Organ Functional?: vomeronasal organ in mole rats

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24060  

   Dennis, John C.; Stilwell, Natalie K.; Smith, Timothy D.; Park, Thomas J.; Bhatnagar, Kunwar P.; Morrison, Edward E. (January 2019, The Anatomical Record)

   The colonial naked mole rat Heterocephalus glaber is a subterranean, eusocial rodent. The H. glaber vomeronasal organ neuroepithelium (VNE) displays little postnatal growth. However, the VNE remains neuronal in contrast to some mammals that possess nonfunctional vomeronasal organ remnants, for example, catarrhine primates and some bats. Here, we describe the vomeronasal organ (VNO) microanatomy in the naked mole rat and we make preliminary observations to determine if H. glaber shares its minimal postnatal VNE growth with other African mole rats. We also determine the immunoreactivity to the mitotic marker Ki67, growthassociated protein 43 (GAP43), and olfactory marker protein (OMP) in six adult and three subadult H. glaber individuals. VNE volume measurements on a small sample of Cryptomys hottentotus and Fukomys damarensis indicate that the VNE of those African mole rat species are also likely to be growth-deficient. Ki67(+) cells show that the sensory epithelium is mitotically active. GAP43 labelling indicates neurogenesis and OMP(+) cells are present though less numerous compared to GAP43(+) cells. In this respect, the VNO of H. glaber does not appear vestigial. The African mole rat VNE may be unusually variable, perhaps reflecting reduced selection pressure on the vomeronasal system. If so, African mole rats may provide a useful genetic model for understanding the morphological variability observed in the mammalian VNO. 

   more » « less
4. Microfabricated Organ-Specific Models of Tumor Microenvironments

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-bioeng-110222-103522  

   Oh, Jeong Min; Park, Yongkuk; Lee, Jungwoo; Shen, Keyue (May 2025, Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering)

   Despite the advances in detection, diagnosis, and treatments, cancer remains a lethal disease, claiming the lives of more than 600,000 people in the United States alone in 2024. To accelerate the development of new therapeutic strategies with improved responses, significant efforts have been made to develop microfabricated in vitro models of tumor microenvironments (TMEs) that address the limitations of animal-based cancer models. These models incorporate several advanced tissue engineering techniques to better reflect the organ- and patient-specific TMEs. Additionally, microfabricated models integrated with next-generation single-cell omics technologies provide unprecedented insights into patient's cellular and molecular heterogeneity and complexity. This review provides an overview of the recent understanding of cancer development and outlines the key TME elements that can be captured in microfabricated models to enhance their physiological relevance. We highlight the recent advances in microfabricated cancer models that reflect the unique characteristics of their organs of origin or sites of dissemination. 

   more » « less
5. 3D Bioprinting for Organ Regeneration

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201601118  

   Cui, Haitao; Nowicki, Margaret; Fisher, John P.; Zhang, Lijie Grace (January 2017, Advanced Healthcare Materials)