Since 2008, eight patients have been given a new chance at life when surgeons replaced their badly damaged tracheas with man-made versions, Technologyreview reports.

Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology, or HART is testing its synthetic trachea system in Russia and has plans for similar tests in the European Union this year. The company is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to set up a trial in the United States as well.

The synthetic windpipes are made by growing a patient’s own stem cells on a lab-made scaffold. In the future, this technique could be adapted to create other organs, such as a replacement esophagus, heart valve, or kidney.

The four most recent artificial trachea surgeries have been done with these lab-made scaffolds, says David Green, CEO of HART.