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NASA/MIT Can Successfully Grow Human Tissue
mathowie writes "[MIT] scientists use a NASA-developed device in a first step towards tissue engineering. The cell constructs are less than 1/5-inch across, but represent a significant step in developing replacement parts for damaged organs.
Need a heart? No problem! You say you're short one kidney? Heck we can get one for you! With technology like this, I really should take up smoking, if I ever need a lung, someone can grow one for me. " I have someone close to me who has a weak heart - advancements like this will make a huge difference in the future.
This is a tissue culture that grows in a mold.
This doesn't let us grow organs from scratch.
You have to have some differentiated cells in order to seed the culture. If you don't have a liver/kidney/... to begin with, you have nothing to work with.
You'd still have to piece an organ together, one tissue at a time. Just think of how many components are in the heart: valves, neural wiring (building a pacemaker from scratch'll be easy), and a nightmare of a vascular network...
What this does let us do is build individual components from scratch. Hole in your heart? This could make a patch for it (provided you're still alive). But certainly nothing more complex.