Growing Organs

Coolest thing EVA! You must watch this!!!

Ok well the video is 45 minutes long so watch it if you have time. So I'll give you a bit of a synopsis.

Scientists have developed a new method to grow organs. Ok sure, we've been growing skin for quite a while now but what about a heart? a lung? a kidney? The problem with transplantation of these organs is that the recipient's body can recognize that organ as a foreign object and destroy it. Gee... that defeats the purpose of the transplant. Sure the patient can go on immunosuppressants but then they'll get sick more often :( Well now there's a new solution ^^


What happens is that scientists get a pre-existing organ from a donor or what not and wash away all of the cells from that organ. The left over is called the "scaffold" made up by the extracellular matrix (ECM). Now the ECM is basically proteins secreted by cells that gives structure and organization. Think of bones! The ECM is the collagen and calcium released by the bone cells in turn making bones so strong. With other organs this ECM provides a way for cells to assemble.The next step is taking stem cells (cells that can become any type of cell in our body) from the organ recepient and adding them to the organ scaffold. The stem cells repopulate the organ et voila!

This organ is virtually grown using the recipient's cells and will not get destroyed by the immune system. In fact, they've already done a human bladder transplant this way and hearts have been regenerated in mice.

Wicked! Things like this remind me why I love science and medicine so much :D Ooh! I've started working in a new lab now where I'll also be doing my fourth year thesis. Exciting!

Goodbye chondrosarcoma! Hello Pseudomonas fluorescens!