A Zen gay atheistic Texan’s perspective

Straight out of sci-fi. I blogged about this a while back when they were doing tests with animal organs. Human patients have now received replacement organs grown on organic scaffolds from their own cells (thus no nasty anti-immune system drugs or chance of rejection).

Simpler organs with less complex internal structures are obviously the best candidates for the near future: kidneys and livers, etc. which are basically big matrices. But the team is already working on hearts.

For now it’s patients with failing organs who are sick. But in a few years, if you can afford it, why not get a young, vibrant heart when you’re 80? Or a new set of kidneys and lungs? Obviously just replacing organs won’t bring on immortality, but it will be interesting as this develops to see how it will extend lives, especially those of the rich (and medically insured).

Boing Boing: Organs grown from patients’ cells

April 4th, 2006 at 11:29 am