Bear in mind, this is different from offering money for organs to be used in transplants.
Mount Sinai, a world leader in using live donors in transplants for adults, suspended live-donor transplants on Jan . 15
This makes them a promising source of tissue for "lab-built" organs that might be used in transplants.
The cells, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), are already used in transplants for patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and myeloma.
With his background as a heart surgeon specializing in transplants, he brings more intellectual heft to the job than Mr. Lott.
Stem cells can also take the place of bone marrow in transplants for people suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia.
Dr. Huang was quoted as saying that prisoners must give written consent for their organs to be used in transplants and that their rights are protected.
Instead the cells in transplants like Megan Cardy's are blood stem cells -- primitive cells that are capable of growing into the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets that make up healthy blood.
Even so, the disparity between the treatment of orthopedic tissue and heart valves reflects the nation's patchwork system of regulating companies that provide human tissue for use in transplants.
If animal trials scheduled for later this year prove successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from heart disease within three years.
