Hum Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Winston-Salem, North Carolina (CNN) -- Is it possible for humans to regenerate a damaged body part the way starfish and salamanders can? Will doctors one day be able to replace cancer-ridden organs with healthy ones engineered in a lab? Will lengthy waiting times for organ transplants eventually become a thing of the past ? Scenarios like these aren't outside the realm of possibility. Regenerative medicine therapies are already helping small groups of patients through clinical trials; and scientists around the world are working both to expand the applications of these therapies and to bring them into more widespread use. The effort to harness the body's natural healing powers has been called a new frontier in medicine because it offers the promise to actually cure, rather than just treat, disease. It has a several components: injectable cell therapies to promote healing; replacement tissues and organs engineered in the lab; and the use of bio-compatible materials or small molecules to prompt tissue regeneration from within the body. These therapies are designed to take advantage of the body's healing abilities. For example, skin and bone tissue is constantly regenerating, and if part of the spleen is removed after being injured, it will regrow. The world's first laboratory-engineered organ, the bladder, was implanted in patients beginning in 1998. The surgery has helped patients in several ways, such as the new organs being able to hold urine, and avoiding the serious condition of kidney failure. For example, as demonstrated at TED, our institute is combining the latest technologies in biomaterials, printer technology and computer aided design in a project to "print" replacement tissues and organs. The idea is to use patient data, such as from a CT scan, to first create a computer model of the organ to be printed. This model is used to guide the printer as it layer-by-layer prints a three-dimensional structure made up of cells and the biomaterials to hold the cells together. This printer is unique in that it can use biomaterial gels as well as rigid polymers -- so that any three-dimensional shape can be created. In addition, it can print proteins, growth factors and other liquids into the structure to help promote regeneration once implanted. This device is still experimental and is being explored for organs such as the kidney and structured tissue such as the ear. The project is based on earlier research in which we were able to show that miniature kidneys could be engineered using biomaterials and cells. In animals, these miniature kidneys were shown to be functional, in that they were able to filter blood and produce dilute urine. more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remixedcat Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 OH sweet! That is one printer that would actually be good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ci7 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 i hope it is high speed regeneration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrJohnSmitherson Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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