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A biodegradable artery graft helps regenerate an artery in 90 days after surgery, leaving no trace of synthetic graft materials in the body.

The cell-free technology has the potential to transform coronary artery bypass surgeries.

Research published online June 24 in Nature Medicine highlights work led by principal investigator Yadong Wang, a professor in the Swanson School of Engineering and the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, who designed grafts that fully harness the body’s regenerative capacity.

This new approach is a philosophical shift from the predominant cell-centered approaches in tissue engineering of blood vessels.

“The host site, the artery in this case, is an excellent source of cells and provides a very efficient growth environment,” says Wang. “This is what inspired us to skip the cell culture altogether and create these cell-free synthetic grafts.”