Advancements in science spell hope for those awaiting organ transplants
9:58 a.m. Monday, January 15, 2007
Wake Forest University School of Medicine is home to one of the largest regenerative medicine centers in the world. Experts of all kinds are working on creating lab-grown substitutes for human organs and tissues.
"Nano-technology, bio-materials, materials chemistry, physiology, pharmacology, cell biology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, and what we refer to as translational medicine," said Wake Forest Professor George Christ.
The idea is to build an organ as close as possible to the real thing by growing it from the patient's own cells.
"We can take something the size of a postage stamp -- a biopsy the size of a postage stamp -- and create something the size of a football field, in about four to six weeks," Christ said.
Dr. Anthony Atala used the technique in a small study several years ago. Patients with defective bladders were given a re-engineered new one that worked.
"I think that the success with the bladder has shown that this is possible," Christ said.
Researchers are now trying to grow about 20 different tissues and cells, replacements for nearly every part of the human body.
One use for this technology might be for wounded soldiers who've lost a lot of tissue. This is a project to grow artificial blood vessels - a potential solution to the blood vessel problems dialysis patients face.
"You start off with the simplest case, which is by no means simple, and then you build on the complexity for things like pancreas, kidney you know and very, very complicated organs like the G.I. tract," Christ said.
Scientists hope someday no one will die waiting for an organ transplant. They'll just wait for their new one to grow.
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