Bob Langer and Joseph Vacanti- The Fathers of the Field of Tissue Engineering.
Replacement Parts: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first "neo-organ" and burn victims and patients with sever skin sores or ulcers can now be thankful. It is amazing how not too much farther in the future we will be able to have custom-made hearts, livers, breasts, etc., and having these could be solutions to some of the most life-threatening illnesses.
Imitating Life: In order to produce biologically useful tissues like cartilage and heart valves, tissue engineers have to pay very close and special attention to the physical environment in which cells grow. Advances in tissue engineering replicates the idea of the circulatory system giving each individual cell in a tissue access to nutrients and a means of waste removal.
This picture was really interesting because it is a real mouse that was able to grow an ear. Before I finished reading the paragraph I was wondering how the immune system didn't reject the human tissue. I then found out that the mouse was specially bred to lack an immune system that might reject the human tissue.
Forces of Nature: Dr. Gail Naughton created a container called a bioreactor. It simulates conditions inside a healthy body, including putting physical stresses on cells as they grow. Stonger natural tissue is the result. It makes sense why this bioreactor was created because a little petri dish was not as effective as the bioreactor is. According to Naughton, valve materials grown in the reactor have double the mechanical strength and secrete more important structural proteins, like collagen and elastin, than do those grown in a petri dish. Overall it sounds like the bioreactor is a lot more effective and it will help out our society in many ways. The bioreactor encourages the growth of blood vessels very well but in a petri dish it was always difficult to get tissue-engineered cells to orient themselves just right.
Free Fall: It was interesting reading about how NASA scientists came to a conclusion that tissues grow more naturally in the weightlessness of space. Just like Dr. Gail Naughton did, the NASA researchers designed their own bioreactor. But there was a little bit of a difference because NASA's bioreactor kept growing cells in perpetual free fall and they found out that this was very effective.
Life in 3D: Many people in the United States are on a waiting list for an organ transplant, but there are just so many people in need and there is a shortage of donor organs. If this technology works in the future then there will be less rejections and the people who could benefit from a stronger heart or a better kidney would be able to get help before it is too late. If they can treat a disease early on there will not be as much need to grow entire hearts in the lab and that is what they are hoping for in the future.
Lab Tested, Vatican Approved: The picture of the mouse that I posted earlier in this blog announced the new field of tissue engineering to the public. Tissue engineering is a new technology that is both natural and straightforward. It does not require the controversial use of embryonic stem cells.
This was actually a very interesting subject to read about. I never thought that we would be growing human tissues in the lab. Tissue engineering is going to help thousands of people in the United States and I would have to say everyone is happy about this new technology.
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