When you are waiting on something as important as a liver or kidney for a transplant, time is of the essence when a match is located. Right now, you have to receive that organ within four hours for it to remain viable. But LSU Mechanical Engineer Professor Ram Devireddy said they are researching ways to freeze an organ so it can remain viable longer.
“What we’re trying to do in our lab is to create mathematical models to help us figure out what is the best way of doing what I just said,” said Devireddy.
LSU has received and $433-thousand grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the best method to preserve an organ that’s awaiting transplant.
Because an organ is multicell tissue Devireddy said you must look at freezing the cells individually, so it preserves the organ as a whole.
“The problem with an organ is, it is not one cell type, they are different cell types, each one of them needs to be at different freezing conditions to be happy,” said
While there’s been much progress in freezing things like embryos, Devireddy said he doesn’t see the techniques he’s testing being used for at least another five years to assist with preserving organs.
“I keep seeing these ads where in Arizona they will freeze your head and they tell you, you can come back 100 years later, I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” said Devireddy.
He said they will also study other parts in prolonging the life of an organ such as the best method for thawing, which Devireddy said can be just as problematic.
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