Technology that began as a group of cells in a petri dish in the Biomedical Science Research Building may someday fix your broken heart.

Ravi Birla, the director of the University's Artificial Heart Laboratory, is developing methods to grow individual heart components like valves, muscle patches and vascular.

Although Birla said the idea of an entire laboratory-grown heart is "more science fiction than fact," these natural replacements constructed from animal cells could eventually be stronger and more efficient than the ones currently used - generally, factory-made synthetic valves or pig valves.

The tissue's longevity could reduce the need for future surgeries and invasive procedures, Birla said. This would be especially helpful for children, who often outgrow artificial replacements and need multiple surgeries to insert new valves as they grow, he said.

Birla said the University's artificial heart lab is the only one he knows of that is developing replacements for several different parts of the heart simultaneously, which allows University researchers to determine which method is most efficient.

"Overall, as an artificial heart lab we've done well to place ourselves at an advantage," Birla said.

Birla is experimenting with different techniques to develop what he calls "3-D scaffolding structures." The structures are designed to mold cells into the proper shape to grow the organ parts.

Birla said the best type of cells to use for tissue engineering varies based on what organ part is being produced. For now, Birla uses animal cells because they are readily available, but embryonic stem cells may eventually be used because of their ability to multiply.

"We're waiting for the stem cell biologists to figure it out, " he said.

To develop muscle patches, researchers place animal cells in a dish with other agents, carefully controlling the culture's temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide nutrient and pH levels to coax the cells to align into the structure of heart muscle.

To create vascular grafts, Birla injects cells and a polymer into a tube-shaped mold, while Birla uses a triangular two-piece plastic mold to form tri-leaflet valves.

Birla's lab recently began testing the heart muscle patch on rats that had suffered heart attacks.

The lab is also developing a microprofusion system that Birla said could make tissue engineering more efficient. The system is a network of pumps that would stimulate growth by bathing a chamber containing cell cultures with a fluid. He said this would eliminate the need for researchers to change the culture fluids by hand.

Research into cardiac tissue engineering began about a decade ago, Birla said. He said research is only now taking off at academic institutions - about 90 percent of the $3-6 billion invested in tissue engineering is in the private sector.

Birla is working with the University's Technology Transfer program - which helps researchers market their research for commercial uses - to patent his work and develop a strategy to pitch the technology to private investors.

"This technology is revolutionary enough that a great deal of thought and planning needs to go into the commercialization process and the developmental process," said Matt Bell, a licensing specialist at the Technology Transfer office who has worked with Birla for two years, in an e-mail interview.

Bell said that because the technology is far from approval for human use, it will likely be used initially for in-vitro drug testing.

The muscle patches Birla is developing could be used as an intermediate step between two-dimensional drug testing - testing on cells in a petri dish - and animal drug testing, he said. He said this could reduce the need for animal testing in the long run.

Bell said no potential commercial investors have contacted his office because the technology is still in its early stages.

Birla's lab in the Biomedical Science Research Building employs four full-time researchers and several undergraduates.

Birla's findings were published in the current issue of the journal of Regenerative Medicine.