Posted on 07/10/2006 10:32:57 PM PDT by neverdem
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Inside the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s spacious new headquarters here, when asked how many siblings he has, Anthony Atala gives a long gentle laugh instead of a reply.
Just to have shared that he was born in Peru and comes from a large family is more than he normally divulges about his personal life to journalists. But asked about his work with urothelial cells — the cells that line the bladder, ureter and urethra — Dr. Atala bends forward and talks a blue streak. Which might be expected of a urologist and tissue engineer who grows, from scratch, fully functioning bladders.
In April, when the two-year-old institute that Dr. Atala directs for Wake Forest’s School of Medicine moved into some 50,000 square feet of space in the Piedmont Triad Research Park, it became one of the world’s largest research facilities dedicated to regenerative medicine, a practice that aims to refurbish diseased or damaged tissue using the body’s own healthy cells.
The field of tissue engineering is large in this endeavor, with researchers like Dr. Atala exploring a basic approach. To repair or replace parts, they seed a biodegradable scaffold with cells and insert it into the body, where the cells, if all goes smoothly, mature into functioning tissue.
At the institute, he and more than 80 colleagues are working on tissue replacement projects for practically every body part — blood vessels and nerves, muscles, cartilage and bones, esophagus and trachea, pancreas, kidneys, liver, heart and even uterus.
In the long term, the scientists hope, patients may no longer have to wait on the national transplant list “for someone to die so they can live,” as Dr. Atala puts it. Organs could be tailor-made for people.
A more immediate goal is to improve upon a multitude...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Make mine a Kegg.
Think they could grow functioning brains for the Four Scourges of the World?
1. Liberal Media
2. Islamofacists
3. Communists
4. Democrats
adult stem cell/regenerative medicine ping
Oh boy Let's sign the republican senate up so they can grow a set!!!
I was shocked, shocked that the Treasonous Times mentioned "adult" stems cells even once.
ProLife Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
How do I order a new bladder? Liberals have overworked my old one so much, I don't know how much more it can give.
Using a patient’s own tissue in this fashion for self-repair is “inevitable,” said Dr. Retik, who is a scientific adviser for the company. “It has so many advantages over conventional surgical methods that ultimately it will be the preferred method.”
Voltaire once mused that humans were certain to find a way of regenerating their heads — a coup that would benefit some people a great deal, he added.
While tissue engineers aren’t likely to regenerate complex parts on a regular basis any time soon — least of all the human head — Dr. Atala, who is also director of the National Regenerative Medicine Foundation, recently received $1 million from the Department of Defense for research that will be undertaken by a coalition of research centers. A primary goal is to grow limbs for injured soldiers.
“A salamander can grow back its leg,” Dr. Atala said. “Why can’t a human do the same?”
“A salamander can grow back its leg,” Dr. Atala said. “Why can’t a human do the same?”
Just grow me a new body and mount my old head on it!
fresh parts and no learning curve!
Dr. Atala has reported successes that include vaginal tissue
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Think they could grow functioning brains for the Four Scourges of the World?
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I'd prefer if they could grow a backbone for Republican politicians!
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