Trauma surgeons in Ukraine operating theaters saved lives and limbs thanks to the innovative lab-grown blood vessels from US biotech, Humacyte.

Humacyte is pioneering a platform that enables the investigation, development, and manufacture of bioengineered human tissues and organs that are designed to be universally implantable, off-the-shelf, and regenerative, with the goal of treating a wide variety of diseases, injuries, and chronic conditions.

This week I had the chance to speak to Humacyte founder, President and Chief Executive Laura Niklason about the company she has built, the science she is driving forward, and the real-world applications for Humacyte’s lab-grown blood vessels in some of the most devastating and dangerous conflicts.

1:00 Introducing Laura Niklason

4:50 Humacyte and its mission

6:27 Competitive landscape

7:45 Partnering for scale

9:49 How to grow blood vessels in the lab

11:47 Implanting the vessels

13:32 Human vessels vs synthetic vessels

15:10 The manufacturing process

16:23 Overcoming skepticism, demonstrating value

19:01 Navigating the regulatory approval process

21:17 The role of the Department of Defense in innovative biotech

22:30 Using Humacyte vessels in the field

23:20 Humacyte vessels in the Ukraine War

28:22 Lessons from the Ukraine War

30:09 Goals for the coming years

33:35 Scaling manufacturing

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