Onwards to Replacement Organs

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The Times Online brings welcome news of progress: "Entire human internal organs grown in the laboratory have been successfully transplanted into patients for the first time ... Seven people suffering from a serious bladder condition received replacement organs engineered by a team of American scientists using the patients' own cells. The engineered tissue was created by taking a small sample of bladder from a patient and growing muscle cells and urothelial (bladder) cells in a nutrient bath in a laboratory. The cells were then encouraged to grow over a specially designed biodegradable bladder-shaped scaffold made out of collagen. After a further two months, the full organ had formed, ready for transplantation." Bladders today, but lungs, hearts, kidneys and more a decade from now - onwards!

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2117274,00.html