A new study, revealing that heart stem cells from children with congenital heart disease were able to rebuild the damaged heart in the laboratory, could provide a new outlet for Emerging Healthcare Solutions’ (Pink Sheets: EHSI) NASA bioreactor.

Sunjay Kaushal, MD, PhD, surgeon in the Division of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, headed the study. It appears in the February issue of the medical journal Circulation, and prompts a potential therapy option that sidesteps the need for a heart transplant in children born with defects.

Cells were obtained from patients ranging in age from a few days after birth to 13 years who were undergoing routine congenital cardiac surgery. The study found that the implanted cardiac stem cells are functional and have the potential for use in repairing the damaged heart. EHSI President and CEO Cindy Morrissey said on Monday that the company’s NASA bioreactor could be useful in creating the healthy stem cell cultures necessary to stage clinical trials of similar procedures.

“It takes millions of cells to regenerate a working organ,” Morrissey said. “These types of procedures, where large numbers of stem cells are needed for the therapy, are exactly the kind of projects perfectly suited to our NASA bioreactor’s capabilities.”