Can we regenerate organs? Yes, according to Anthony Atala, W.H. Boyce Professor and Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Urology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Smart biomaterials helps the body regenerate new parts. But only over small distances – over able 1 centimeter (less than half an inch). And samples of tissue can be used to regrow new biomaterial like muscle and blood vessel over a scaffold.
Bladders can be grown for transplant.
And hearts can be printed using cells as the “ink” in an inkjet printer. Though this latter approach is experimental and has not been used in live patients (yet!).
And liver collagen scaffolds have been grown.
More on this in an article from the Christian Post
More on Atala’s work in this article
See this TedMed video of Atala speaking in 2009:
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