New Delhi: "Science is a cemetery of dead ideas," said an eminent scientist but engineers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) believe in re-creating those dead ideas and harvest new.

IIT Delhi in collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and PGI Chandigarh has developed a life support system for patients with severely dysfunctional organs.

Such patients have an ultimate resort of organ transplantation for which they have to depend upon the availability and compatibility of a donor. However, if the biodegradable scaffolds developed by IIT-D turn into a reality then there would not be any need for the look out.

The institute has created scaffolds on which stem cells can be grown into tissues, which then develop into a full organ. The organ thus developed can be used for transplantation.

The scaffolds, made of biodegradable polymers, at present are being tested on animals in Paris.

Claiming that the present innovation will carve a niche in the coming years, Professor Bhuvanesh Gupta from the bioengineering group, textile department, IIT-D, said that, "There will be no need of the conventional system of a donor and a recipient as a new organ can be developed on the scaffolds using patient’s own cells. Chances of rejection will also amount to null as in a normal organ transplant."

Using a biodegradable polymer, the technology requires a mould like scaffold, which is developed by knitting the polymer for an organ like a bladder, which needs expansion.

For tubular structures like a blood vessel, it's braided.

Once a scaffold is ready within a week, it is coated with protein so that it becomes bio-receptive allowing cells to grow easily.

"Through biopsy, a tiny part of the native cells can be taken from the healthy part of a patient's dysfunctional organ and then seeded on the scaffold to form a tissue patch. Developing a scaffold that favours cells’ growth is crucial," explained Professor Gupta.

The new organ thus formed on the scaffold is ready to be transplanted in the body.

"The scaffold then gradually degrades in the body leaving behind a well-functioned organ within a few months. It's akin to producing your own organ," Gupta added.

Native cells can also be replaced by stem cells. The basic difference between the two is that, stem cells can be used to form the tissue of any organ while native cells can only form the organ from which they are extracted.

The scaffolds are the result of a 10-year-long research by Professor Gupta and Professor Alok Ray from IIT-D's centre for Biomedical Engineering.

Four IIT students are also a part of this extensive research team, and has worked with Professor J Hilborn from University of Uppsala in Sweden, Professor Didier Letourneur from Bichat Hospital and Professor Joelle Amedee from University of Bordeaux in France in this research.

The Department of Biotechnology, government of India and the European Union, together have funded for the project.

"We have developed biodegradable scaffolds based on polylactic acid copolymers in the form of tubular as well as knitted structures for the blood vessel and urinary bladder reconstruction. AIIMS and PGI Chandigarh group seed the cells on these scaffolds," Professor Gupta said.

Cells grow beautifully on these scaffolds. The process of harvesting one's own organs, if successful, can be used for treating ailments of the bone by developing cartilage and for treating burn injuries by developing skin tissues.

They would especially benefit the cardiac patients as they would no longer require undergoing a by-pass surgery and can also be used for developing liver if the original one fails due to Hepatitis.

"We are working towards making the scaffold technology available for use but it is still a long way to go," Gupta said.