Life Partners

Growing side by side in an early embryo, groups of cells destined to become the heart and lungs exchange chemical signals. Like many of our early tissues, their development is separate but collaborative, with life-long implications for health. Opening a window on these delicate moments is a welcome challenge for scientists. Here they treat human induced pluripotent stem cells with different chemicals to produce heart and lung ‘microtissues’ (highlighted in red and green, respectively) – 3D structures that mimic would-be organs. Researchers notice that lung microtissues develop quicker when grown next to young heart cells, only to part ways later in development, similar to how real tissues migrate into place in the womb. While they’ll never be so close again, the heart and lungs continue their partnership for the rest of our lives – with blood passed to and fro with every single beat.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Wai Hoe Ng and colleagues
• Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, January 2022