Startling Progress In Tissue Engineering

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

Tissue engineering is a branch of regenerative medicine devoted to growing complex replacement organs from scratch, using stem cell techniques. ScienceDaily notes that UIC researchers have engineered a joint from adult stem cells, with the correct structure, bone and cartilage. This is an impressive step forward, and offers the hope of - for example - completely organic hip replacements using the patient's own stem cells. There is, of course, much more work to do yet; hence the need for more funding and more public awareness for these sorts of advances.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031201064329.htm