Grow Your Own…Body Parts.
At Wake Forrest University, Dr Anthony Atala is manufacturing body parts.
Sounds to me like something out of a horror or science fiction movie but it’s not. Regenerative medicine, the ability of the body’s cells to re-grow, is making amazing breakthroughs.
And at the forefront is Dr Atala and his team. So far they have grown 18 different types of tissue from blood vessels and heart valves to muscle tissue. But their pride and joy so far is the work they have done with the human bladder.
In 2006, a patient at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia was transplanted with a regenerated bladder from her own bladder cells which were isolated, multiplied, and seeded onto a biodegradable scaffold. The growth of the new bladder took only eight weeks.
It bodes well for a future. Doctors will be able to not only diagnose diseases, but also order replacement organs or body parts, custom made just for you, using your own cells. Amazing.
Currently thousands of people worldwide, on waiting lists for transplants, often die before they get one. With regeneration medicine, instead of waiting for a donated organ, it is hoped that they will be able to grow their own in a matter of weeks. This, of course, is still some way off. But it sure looks like it will be happening in the future.
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