In 2013, the Ministry of Defence announced a tender for the development of a bioengineered human liver (Code Prometheus), states a report by the Public Council of the Military-Industrial Commission.
The project may be led by the Burnazyana Federal Medical Biophysical Centre or the Institute of Biomedical Problems of RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences). It will require the cooperation of specialists from the Burdenko General Military Clinical Hospital, Rostec, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Kurchatov Institute, The Institute of Developmental Biology, and other scientific institutions under the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
RIA Novosti reported that the mission was to grow organs and tissue from a patient’s own cells with all the capabilities of a natural organ: stem cells would be attached to a ‘liver frame’ created from biological or synthetic material. Methods of forming three-dimensional biological or biodegradable frames of various sizes would need to be developed .
The aim of the Prometheus project is to create and develop the technology to save lives when vital organs fail after injury, infection or growth of malignant tumours. In the field of biochemistry, the technology to produce an incubation serum for the various stages in the organ’s development will be essential. In addition, a pilot project to create and implement a cell ‘bioprinter’ to automate the different production stages will be required.
“Of specific interest are both a frameless technology for creating organs under conditions of weightlessness, and the technology for preserving and storing prepared organs,” the report notes
