The magician of body plumbing

Francois Auger is taking cell biology to new levels by coaxing cells to do the work for him In 1991, Francois Auger was told that it was impossible to build an artificial blood vessel. Undeterred, he went ahead and created one.

The cell biologist and his Quebec city team have not only made great advances in the tricky field of tissue engineering, by developing veins in vitro, but are also responsible for growing the first human cornea. That's right - growing.

While scientists have used polymers to help keep man-made skin strong, Dr Auger and his partner, Lucie Germain, have taken things to a higher level.

They have managed to bypass the artificial scaffold by cajoling the cells to produce their own collagen - which is just what normal cells do.

"I'm a great believer in the cells. They're not just lying there, looking stupidly at each other," he told Time magazine's Canadian edition. "They will do the work if you treat them right."

The cells have obviously been treated right at Dr Auger's Laboratory of Experimental Angiogenesis, where the first cultured epidermal transplant was done in 1986.

Since then, the original work of developing skin for burn patients has diversified. Dr Auger's work now gives the fields of vascular, orthopaedic and ocular surgery some new options.

Dr Auger recently made the cover of the prestigious Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal, along with his star blood vessels.

The in vitro veins stand out from previous work in this area because, being made entirely from biological substances, they are more compatible. And they measure only five millimetres in diametre.

Polymer-free veins are a challenge to create because they must offer enough resistance to withstand high pressure.

"We insisted on obtaining optimal burst strength as well as adequate surgical handling characteristics and the ability to be sutured to produce the perfect material for vascular grafts," says Dr Auger, who is also a professor in the department of surgery at Laval University.

His vascular work held up under arterial pressure when it was stitched into dogs, with some minor leaking between cells.

"We wanted to see if the plumbing held, and it did," Dr Auger told Science magazine in April.

Not only does the plumbing seem to be holding up, there are fewer naysayers. The Medical Research Council, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and even Quebec's Fireman's Foundation have given Dr Auger's work financial backing.