Artificial heart was named after its manager. Graduate student Robert Jarvik was the project manager for the artificial heart, which was subsequently renamed the Jarvik 7. In 1981, William DeVries submitted a request to the FDA for permission to implant the Jarvik 7 into a human being. On December 2, 1982, Kolff implanted the Jarvik 7 artificial heart into Barney Clark, a dentist from Seattle who was suffering from severe congestive heart failure. Clark lived for 112 days tethered to an external pneumatic compressor, a device weighing some , but during that time he suffered prolonged periods of confusion and a number
Human artificial chromosome resulted in a human artificial chromosome that is mitotically stable. 21HAC was also able to be transferred into cells from a variety of species (mice, chickens, humans). Using 21HAC, researchers were able to insert a herpes simplex virus- thymidine kinase coding gene into tumor cells. This "suicide gene" is required to activate many antiviral medications. These targeted tumor cells were successfully, and selectively, terminated by the antiviral drug ganciclovir in a population including healthy cells. This research opens a variety of opportunities for using HACs in gene therapy. In 2011, researchers formed a human artificial chromosome by truncating chromosome 14.