For thousands of kidney patients in the U.S., the only practical hope of getting off dialysis has been waiting for a transplant. But now, a new engineering breakthrough is reigniting hopes for a second option... an implantable artificial kidney.
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"We were able to produce a functional prototype. A prototype that was able to produce urine," says UCSF researcher Shuvo Roy, Ph.D.
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We first met professor Roy in his lab at UCSF roughly a decade ago, when he was working on a concept-model for the artificial kidney. Like that model, the new working prototype employs two chambers, each about the size of a deck of cards. On one side, are membrane filters for cleaning the blood, similar to dialysis. On the other, a bioreactor filled with living cells, which perform some of the other functions the kidneys would normally control in the body.
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"Our artificial kidney will allow patients to eat and drink freely. Travel without being tethered to a machine. And have better physiological outcomes because they're getting continuous treatment," explains professor Roy.
The artificial kidney prototype was tested successfully in a live animal model. And while the results are considered a turning point, the UCSF team says the technology will have to be scaled up to make human trials possible.
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The goal is to keep the unit at a size where it can be implanted in the body. But at the same time, adding more filtering power along with a more powerful biological capability.
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Professor Roy says the challenges are funding and improved engineering.
But he believes the bioengineered design is now proven to be practical, with the necessary scale up.
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"And is still likely to treat patients in this coming decade," he believes.
The $650,000 prize was awarded to UCSF and their partners at Vanderbilt University by the group Kidney-X. It's a public-private partnership, dedicated to accelerating the treatment of kidney disease.