An ear implant is seeded with cartilage cells. The implant technology could make replacement organs readily available, with no risk of rejection. PHOTO: Wake Forest School of Medicine

You don’t have to wait for an organ donation, just grow your own! Here’s how:

Cells from an organ to be replaced are put into nutrients, where they multiply and create a “soup,” explained Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina [USA]. The “soup” of cells is “painted” on a form or scaffolding in the shape of the organ, say a bladder, and placed into an incubator. A new bladder grows in about six weeks.

“It used to be that the patient’s pelvis was extensively X-rayed to get the right-sized bladder,” Atala said, “but now [scientists are doing so many that] bladders come in three sizes: small, medium and large.”

Ears, arteries, heart valves, fingers and toes are being grown in this manner. Recent news stories have described the successful growing of new penises in lab animals. Atala’s group is experimenting with the ink-jet technology of a printer/scanner that will be able to “print out” a copy of skin, or even a heart, for replacement.

Source

Related posts:

1. 2009 Anita Borg Change Agent Award goes to Three African Women