Researchers participating in a AAAS Annual Meeting news briefing discuss how the use of brain tissue from living donors has prompted a paradigm shift in the study and understanding of the human brain.

Emerging viruses already circulating in the Western Hemisphere could infect fetal tissue and might have the capacity to cause birth defects, according to preclinical findings published January 31 in Science Translational Medicine.

Researchers say they can grow large amounts of the transplantable tissue using cells from a small number of donors.

Laboratory-made “biosynthetic” corneas can spur damaged tissue and broken nerves to regenerate, restoring vision in human eyes just as well as donor corneas, according to a two-year study of 10 patients reported in Science Translational Medicine.

A worldwide shortage of donated corneas leaves millions of people likely to go blind each year. Now, researchers in Sweden show that these biosynthetic corneas made with human collagen may allow patients who need corneal transplants but do not have donors to regain normal sight.

Researchers have figured out a way to grow a ready-made supply of blood vessels for transplant into patients undergoing heart surgery, reports a new study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The blood vessels, or “vascular grafts,” can be made ahead of time, so surgeons can grab them off the shelf when patients need them. Until now, no other vascular graft engineered from human tissue has tolerated simple storage.