[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 31, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H200-H201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TISSUE ENGINEERING AT TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

  (Mr. OLSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, over the past 50 years, engineers, 
scientists, and clinicians have made amazing advances in the design and 
implementation of artificial organs. However, despite these advances, 
the gap between the number of patients waiting for an organ transplant 
and the number of available organs is widening.

[[Page H201]]

  The next great medical breakthrough will come from tissue engineering 
where organs are grown in a laboratory, in some cases with the 
patient's own cells, and then implanted.
  My wife, Nancy, and I recently visited Texas Children's Hospital, one 
of the amazing institutions in the Texas Medical Center. By bringing 
scientists and engineers together who are developing tissue-engineered 
solutions with pediatric-focused clinicians, they spur more pediatric-
focused research. Nancy and I are proud of the innovative work being 
done at Texas Children's Hospital. We saw firsthand that Texas 
Children's Hospital is leading the way on the most important component 
of this research--pediatric tissue engineering, new organs for kids.
  Leaders lead, and Texas Children's is leading the way.

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