The brief

Analyst view

• Uses lymph nodes as living bioreactors: donor cells injected there grow into working ectopic liver, without major surgery.
• Phase 2a in end-stage liver disease at Houston Methodist; first cohort cleared for dose escalation in March 2025.
• Same idea in preclinical work for thymus (immune aging), pancreatic islets and kidney.

Technical approach

As reported

Lymph node as bioreactor

Grow tissue where it has blood and room

Lymph nodes are well supplied with blood and can expand; liver cells placed there multiply and form functioning liver tissue away from the scarred native organ.

Donor organs stretched

One liver for dozens of patients

Cells come from donated livers that missed a transplant match; one liver holds hundreds of billions of hepatocytes, enough for 50+ patients (company estimate).

Outpatient delivery

A 10-minute endoscopic injection

Cells are injected through an endoscope with ultrasound guidance into nodes near the gut, under light sedation, instead of a transplant operation.