Doris Taylor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Doris Taylor
FACC, FAHA
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Doris Taylor in 2012
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| Born |
San Francisco
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Mississippi University for Women, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center |
| Known for | regenerative medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Duke University, Texas Heart Institute |
Doris Anita Taylor is an American scientist. She works in a field called regenerative medicine. This science focuses on helping the body heal itself or growing new body parts. She also works in tissue engineering, which means building tissues or organs in a lab.
Until 2020, she was a director at the Texas Heart Institute. She also helped start two companies, Miromatrix Medical, Inc. and Organamet Bio, Inc.
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About Doris Taylor
Doris Taylor was born in San Francisco, USA. When she was young, she lived in Germany with her family. Her father was in the military.
When Doris was six years old, her father became very sick. Her family moved back to Texas to find medical help for him. Seeing her father's illness and caring for her brother, who also had health challenges, inspired her. These experiences made her want to work in medical research. She wanted to help people who were sick.
Her Education and Career Path
Doris Taylor went to Mississippi University for Women. There, she earned her first degree in Biology and Physical Sciences. Later, she got her PhD in Pharmacology. She studied at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
After her PhD, she continued her studies in New York. She worked at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. This is where she first started working with tissue engineering. She learned how to grow heart muscle cells in a laboratory.
She taught at Duke University from 1991 to 2007. She also taught at the University of Minnesota from 2003 to 2012. From 2012 to 2020, she worked at the Texas Heart Institute. She still holds a teaching role at the University of Minnesota.
Her Amazing Research
Doris Taylor is known for her groundbreaking research. In 2008, her team published an important paper. It showed they could create beating rat hearts using tissue engineering. This work was called a "landmark" discovery.
How They Made Hearts Beat Again
First, her team took a rat heart. They used a special process called "decellularization." This means they carefully removed all the cells from the heart. What was left was like a clear, empty framework of the heart.
Next, they injected new cells into this empty heart framework. These new cells were rat stem cells. Stem cells are special cells that can turn into many different types of cells. After adding the stem cells, the heart started to beat again! This showed that it might be possible to grow new organs for people in the future.
Differences in Hearts
Doris Taylor's research also looks at other interesting things. Her team has found that male and female hearts have differences. These differences are in their basic structure. They are also studying other important organs to see if they have similar differences. This research could help doctors understand how to treat heart problems better for everyone.
