With a tender for creation of an artificial human liver from human stem cells and animal tissue, the Russian military plans to enter the rapidly developing field of bioengineering. The tender for development of the artificial liver, dubbed "Code Prometheus", was published on state tender website Zakupki.gov.ru by the Federal Agency for the Procurement of Military and Special Equipment.
The winner of the 518 million rubles ($17 million) tender must produce a bioengineered human liver with all the capabilities of a "natural" liver, including toxin removal, by 2016.
The patient's own stem cells are to be used for "Code Prometheus", named after a mythical titan whose liver was eaten by an eagle every day, but regrew overnight.
Stem cells would be attached to a "liver frame" created from biological material from an animal, possibly a pig, according to the outline of the tender.
The bioengineered liver is intended for patients with irreversible liver damage, the tender said.
Diseases of the liver include cancer and cirrhosis, whose primary causes are hepatitis and alcoholism.
Advertisement
Lysenko's theories, since dismissed as pseudoscience, were endorsed by Stalin, and his opponents jailed or executed.
Advertisement
Source-IANS