Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Science wins one!

I knew that cell culturing and stem-cell stuff would head this way, but had no idea it had been applied --- doctors grow a new bladder from a patient's cells:
In the new procedure, doctors extract muscle and bladder cells from a small piece of the patient's own bladder. The cells are grown in a Petri dish, then layered onto a three-dimensional mold shaped like a bladder.

In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.
No rejection, no need for immuno-suppression, just like the body had gotten it right the first time! Very spiff.

(via boing boing)

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