Photograph showing Dr. Nyberg consulting with three staff members standing in a surgical lab suite. Advancing liver disease treatment

Our work is advancing applications of individualized medicine and regenerative medicine in liver disease.

Overview

Scott L. Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D., is uniquely trained as a liver transplant surgeon and a biomedical engineer. His team in the Artificial Liver and Liver Transplantation Laboratory has worked extensively on cellular therapies, including the isolation and cultivation of primary liver cells. With this expertise, our lab is forging new methods to treat liver disease using engineered and regenerated livers.

Our lab has designed and tested several bioartificial liver devices, including the spheroid reservoir bioartificial liver. We've also developed the first large animal models of hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 in hereditary metabolic liver disease. We're investigating growing human liver cells. And we're seeking drug targets to help advance liver regeneration.

Growing a new liver from a person's own cells may become possible through our research. Other applications of our work include the development of a humanized bioartificial liver support device for treating people whose livers are failing, either as a bridge to liver transplantation or to aid in spontaneous recovery.

Our work is clinically significant because it opens the door to new applications of individualized medicine and regenerative medicine, ultimately expanding treatment options for people with liver disease.

About Dr. Nyberg

In addition to serving as principal investigator of the liver lab, Dr. Nyberg is a professor of surgery and a professor of biomedical engineering at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minnesota. For the past 18 years, Dr. Nyberg has been directly involved in the development and testing of cell-based liver support devices for the treatment of fulminant liver failure.