MARVEL OF BIOLOGY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17738, 26 March 1932, Page 4

MARVEL OF BIOLOGY

cnownro human tissues ; ■ *» Am TO OANCEE RESEARCH it . ■ * Experiments in tissue culture, which are expected to ;have considerable significance in connection with cancer . research and, in the long run, may eves reveal the secret of prolonging iijife indefinitely, arc engaging the increasing attention of the medical - world. I>T. E. S. Horning, of the . biological (staff of the .Medical School % of the University of Sydney, who is . travelling; the world as a. Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, arrived , at Auckland by tho Niagara from Vancouver on His way to Sydney. He i • has made u special study of tissue oul ture technique in Sydney and was able • to extend his researches at the Kaiser ;WilhelM Institute, Berlin, one of .tho !j! greatest laboratories for scientific re- : • search In the world. After a short ' Stay in Australia, Dr. Horning will return to Araerich. V HEART OF A CHICKEN Wk Dr. Horning had favpfablo opporI tunitics iir Berlin of studying the re- ; searehc* of. Dr. Albert Fischer, one of the world’s leading exponents of tissue culture, who has made rhpul prothe development of the iLtecbatyh*' Portions of the tissues of pjpfr'jffmftl or human body are removfud' tar 'surgical Operation, washed, |«t«iUvtd to free them of bacteria, and IfM# oJiTe apart' from the human body ijyflii|lllg‘thniii in tnrrt tubes. Net § ■:

only can they be kept alive, but they can bo grown, tho nucleus cells multiplying until tho original portion of tissue is hundreds of times its original size. Dr. A. Carrel, who has been engaged in this research at tho Rockefeller Institute in New York, has, for instance, succeeded in growing a small portion of tho heart of a chicken for 20 years. ANIMAL GROWTH PROBLEMS ‘ l The importance of tissue culture,” said Dr. Horning, "is that living tissues can bo observed, while growing, under tho microscope, and can be subjected to various experiments. By this means wc can fathom tho ( various problems connected , with animal growth, and it is hoped that we shall thereby bb helped to understand a great deal more about the gi-owtli of cancer. Provided the tissues aro kept free from bacteria, aro regularly washed, and fed properly on culture media, say, embryo juice or blood serum, they are immortal, and will grow on for over. What effect that will have on our knowledge of human life it is difficult to say. The obstacle to prolonging the life of the tissues as they gre found in the body is that it appears impossible to free the body from bacteria as the tissues can bo freed from bacteria when surgically removed and preserved under test conditions.” Dr, Horning, who graduated at Oxford University, is now attached to the Washington University Medical School at St. Louis.