Question: How do you grow Blood Vessels

Gemma Barron answered on 10 Nov 2015:

Hi @Ed Tidman.

Thank you for your interesting question.

So the reason I grow blood vessels is because I investigate a process called angiogenesis which is the growth of new blood vessels in the body and it is an important natural process used in healing (especially if you have hurt yourself and have a cut in your skin) or in reproduction. However, what is interesting to me is abnormal blood vessel growth, which can either be aggressive or insufficient, and is linked to many deadly conditions, including cancer, skin disease, blindness in old age, diabetes, stroke and also heart disease. The list of diseases that are linked to angiogenesis are growing every year.

I look at blood vessel formation using blood taken from breast cancer patients and also people who are overweight or obese and grow my blood vessels using two cell lines in a co-culture system. I grow two different types of cells together in plastic dishes and keep them in an incubator at 37C. These cells are human endothelial cells (which are cells taken from the inside surface of blood vessels) and human fibroblasts (which are a type of cell that is responsible for the structural network in tissues). I grow my cells together over 14 days. I stain them with specific dyes and take pictures using a light microscope. The first time I saw the blood vessels as absolutely fascinating as it grew right before my eyes. 🙂

I hope this answers your question. Thanks, Gemma