Scott L. Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D.

The research of Scott L. Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D., is focused on the development of a multidisciplinary bioartificial liver program to improve the treatment of patients with liver failure and support the Mayo Clinic clinical liver transplant program.

Focus areas

The bioartificial liver is an important supportive therapy to bridge patients in liver failure to liver transplantation, or to avoid liver transplantation when spontaneous recovery is possible.

Similar to hemodialysis in the treatment of kidney failure, the bioartificial liver functions outside of the patient's body. However, the bioartificial liver is a "hybrid" extracorporeal device in that it contains hepatocytes, most commonly of porcine or human origin, as a biological source of liver function.

Dr. Nyberg's team has also developed its own liver support system, the Mayo Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver. This system functions using human hepatocytes produced in a novel genetically engineered animal, the HT1 pig, which serves as an in vivo incubator for robust expansion of human hepatocytes.

Additionally, Dr. Nyberg is director of the Mayo Clinic liver support program, a multidisciplinary team that participated in the pivotal evaluation of the HepatAssist bioartificial liver system.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Nyberg and his team expect that these studies will lead to a "humanized" bioartificial liver device for clinical treatment of patients with liver failure.

Professional highlights

• American Society of Transplant Surgeons-Pfizer Collaborative Scientist Grant, 2012-2014
• Coulter Translational Research Award, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, 2011-2013
• Chair, Surgical Research Committee, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., 2000-2011
• Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Adviser, Food and Drug Administration/Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, 2009
• Consultant, Food and Drug Administration/National Institute of Standards and Technology Workshop on Cell Scaffold Products, 2007
• Co-Chair, National Institutes of Health Workshop on Acute Liver Failure, 2006
• Special Section Editor (2000-2005) and Editorial Board Member (2000-present), Liver Transplantation
• Patents — Bioreactor Device with Application as a Bioartificial Liver (U.S. Patent No. 5,605,835); Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver (U.S. Patent No. 7,160,719); Fenestrated Funnel Bioartificial Liver (U.S. and international patents pending); Fah-Deficient Pigs and Uses Thereof (U.S. and international patents pending)