Innovate UK
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Success story - Preserving life at the margins

Finding a ‘universal formula' that  keeps human organs and tissue stable and viable outside the body has been an elusive goal for over a century - despite the potentially life-saving benefits for patients requiring transplants and in medical research.  
 
It's been a lifetime quest for British physiologist and founder of Aqix, Dr Doug Rees. Grant funding and support from Innovate UK is helping him turn his dream into reality.

His ground-breaking innovation, AQIX® RS-1, is a manufactured fluid that exactly mimics the role of the internal body substance - human interstitial fluid - that keeps hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys functioning and lubricated. 

It keeps donor transplant organs and other tissues viable outside the body for up to 72 hours (rather than 24 hours) greatly increasing the window for storage and transportation. It can also be used to flush other preservation fluids out of donor organs.  

"It ‘wakes up' donor organs and brings them back to life - increasing the number of viable organs for transplant," Doug said.

Click here for full success story

 
Channel website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk

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