Grow your own body parts? The future is now

[question everything]

Don't wait for an organ donation -- 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. 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.

(snip)

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.

This could spell the end of transplant organ shortages and, because they use the patient's own tissue, make organ rejection a thing of the past.

How soon will you be able to grow your own parts? Lab-grown bladders have already been transplanted into patients in the United States, a precursor to FDA approval, said a Wake Forest Institute spokeswoman. In 10 years, it could be out with the old and in with the new, at least with some organs. And they'll be your own organs.



http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/76322897.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. How long we have waited for this. I am so glad they are making such progress.

[question everything]

2. With all the hoops jumping that the FDA will require

and with all the legalese that corporations will need - at least 10 years.

Sigh.

[trotsky]

5. Wait, which is it now...

Is the FDA an obstructionist, overly-cautious government agency that thwarts new medical inventions and procedures?

Or are they a pawn of industry and rubber-stamp everything without researching it enough?

Because I've seen some of the same people make BOTH arguments without a hint of cognitive dissonance.

[question everything]

6. Depends on the ego of the head of the FDA

David Kessler - who recently has been the darling of DUers - was raiding supermarket refrigerators because Orange Juice from concentrate said it was fresh, or something, while prohibiting new drugs for people who were dying, anyway.

From my point - and I know I am in the minority - terminally ill people are dying, and in pain because of the FDA dragging its feet.

It used to be that the FDA was in charge of assuring the safety of drugs. Then efficacy was added which brings us to the "statistically significant" where one number can make the difference. Which makes the drug company hesitating on real break through drugs and that may help only a small percentage of the affected people because it cost so much money to bring a drug to the market, it has to have a wide "audience" like... Viagra.

Instead the drug companies just massage the data to extend the patent on existing medications to prevent generics. And here, you have Congress as the obstructionist.

I can go on and on but, you get my drift.

[Mind_your_head]

3. This is like "flying cars"......it COULD be possible, but it ain't gonna happen

in our reality.

Who's going to pay for this stuff?

So "grandma" gets a new liver and you've got to change her diaper till she's 186 y/o. Is that a 'good' thing?

[Why Syzygy]

4. I want new teeth.

Stem cells ought to take care of it.

[Orrex]

7. +1

Cosmetic dentistry has made vast strides in the past ten years; it would be nice to see conventional dentistry making similar advances. A few dental implants can cost you more than a nice new car, for pity's sake!

[Why Syzygy]

8. My body

would reject traditional implants. It's one of those. Stem cell implants would be the perfect solution.

There's also talk of 'living forever'. I ONLY want to do that if we get age reversal too. Probably.

[Orrex]

9. I'd have to do some digging, but...

I heard a brief report on NPR about seven years ago about the successful regrowth of teeth in pigs (IIRC) from engineered "tooth buds" implanted in the jaw. I don't remember if these were based on stem cells or not, but it sounded very promising at the time.

Of course, seven years later I've heard almost nothing else about it, so maybe it didn't pan out...

[gkhouston]

10. I'm ahead of the curve. I've already got a spare butt.

:+