Johns Hopkins scientists fused common connective tissue cells taken from lungs with heart muscle cells to create a safe and effective biological pacemaker whose cells can fire on their own and naturally regulate the muscle’s rhythmic beat.

“This work with fibroblasts could pave the way to an alternative to implanted electronic pacemakers,” says Eduardo Marban, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chief of cardiology at Hopkins and its Heart Institute. “Such a ‘biopacemaker’ is a potentially important option for patients at too high a risk for infection or who are physically too small to accommodate mechanical pacemakers.”

Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions news relase