National Geographic Channel Features Harvard Bioscience Bioreactor Technology For Organ Regeneration

HOLLISTON, Mass., Feb. 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:HBIO), a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products used to advance life science research and regenerative medicine, is pleased to announce that its novel bioreactor technology was featured on the National Geographic Channel's Explorer television program on February 7, 2011. The episode spotlights Dr. Harald Ott of Massachusetts General Hospital who has conducted pioneering research on heart and lung regeneration.

Harvard Bioscience bioreactor systems were featured in an episode of the program titled "How to Build a Beating Heart," focusing on the science of tissue engineering and showing how scientists are beginning to harness the body's natural powers to regenerate vital organs, including heart and lung, as well as skin, muscle and limbs. In the episode and video excerpts, Dr. Ott uses the Harvard Apparatus LB2 Lung Regeneration Bioreactor technology to recellularize and regenerate a functioning rodent heart from a decellularized natural scaffold. 

To view highlights from the episode, please access the following link:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4828/Overview#tab-Videos/09346_00

Harvard Bioscience bioreactor technologies were also recently featured on PBS's Nova scienceNow television program in a segment of the program titled "Replacing Body Parts." The segment focuses on the ability of new technologies to grow human organs, including heart, lung and airway for transplantation. The segment includes footage of Claudia Castillo, the recipient of an airway regenerated using her own cells in the InBreath Hollow Organ Bioreactor, and transplanted by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. The InBreath technology is exclusively licensed to Harvard Bioscience. The segment also features a fully functional rodent lung regenerated by Dr. Harald Ott using Harvard Bioscience bioreactor technology. The completed lung was successfully transplanted into a surviving animal, demonstrating the feasibility of transplanting a complex organ using regenerative medicine techniques.

To view complete footage of the segment, please access the following link:

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