FLEA PROTEIN ORGAN TRANSPLANT CANADA RESEARCH – NATURAL ANTI-FREEZE
January 1st, 2005
BY MONICA DOBIE
PATIENTS in need of an organ transplant may stand a better chance of receiving a new heart, kidney or liver in good time because of a substance found in a tiny hopping bug. Canadian scientists from the Department of Biochemistry at Queens University, in Kingston, Ontario, discovered an antifreeze protein in snow fleas that may increase the shelf life of human organs for transplantation. Drs Laurie Graham and Peter Davies found that this is produced by the fleas to protect themselves against freezing at temperatures of six degrees Celsius lower ...
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