News From The Future: Synthetic organ transplants

Science
News From The Future: Synthetic organ transplants

Pt 101258

News From The Future: Synthetic organ transplants

Surgeons have performed the first transplant operation using an organ wholly grown in a laboratory to give a man a new windpipe.

The 36-year-old is recovering after surgeons implanted the world’s first wholly lab-grown organ into his body.

The synthetic trachea was created by growing the patient’s own stem cells on an artificial “scaffold”, which British scientists helped design.

Windpipes have been grown from stem cells before, but only using the collagen “skeletons” of donated tracheas.

The landmark operation at Karolinska University hospital in Sweden could mean patients may not have to wait for a suitable donor organ. This could be particularly significant for children, for whom donor tracheas are much more difficult to find.

Previously
Printing body parts: Making a bit of me @ The Economist

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

current: @adafruit - previous: MAKE, popular science, hackaday, engadget, fallon, braincraft ... howtoons, 2600...

View more articles by Phillip Torrone

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK