Scientists use human heart cells to power an artificial fish

Scientists at Harvard University have created an artificial fish that flaps its tail using energy generated from cells of human heart. The fish is made of plastic, paper, gelatin and two strips of heart muscle cells. The experiment was carried out by Harvard scientists along with those from Emory University.

The findings from the study have been published in the journal Science. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has even tweeted about the study posting a video of the artificial fish swimming around.

The researchers hope to gain insights about advancing understanding about improvements in pacemakers.

“The benefit of this fish project is that we are still trying to master the craft of using live cells as an engineering substrate,” said Kit Parker as quoted by The Guardian. He is one of the lead authors of the study.

“The heart is extremely complex and it’s not enough to mimic the anatomy,” added Parker, a Seas professor. “One must recreate the biophysics in order to have the robust behavior required of building engineered hearts for children born with malformed hearts.”

Parker has expressed hopes that the teams becomes successful in keeping these cells and tissues alive for more than four and a half months.