Printing New Organs – Sci-Fi Becomes True
Patients in need of a transplant know they could face a dangerously long wait. But now scientists may have some good news on the horizon - as human organs in the future may simply be printed out.
Bio-printing technology is being developed by a leading Moscow research centre, a breakthrough that for some could be a matter of life and death.
Tatyana Romantsova is one of the transplant patients. She is in year three of her new life. She is grateful for it and for the time she gets to spend with her daughter. In 2007 Tatyana was suffering from a sickness that threatened to take her away from her family.
Tatyana’s heart could not pump properly as she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Only a heart transplant could save her.
“They put me on the waiting list, my health was failing and I was waiting,” Tatyana recalls. “But I had strong faith that it was not in vain. I had something to live for – a child, a family. I waited for 8 months.”
Thousands around the world die every year waiting on transplant lists.
“Of course, the lack of donor organs is a big problem,” Romantsova claims. “There are so many people who never get this chance to walk and be happy again. So many lose their close ones. We, patients at the institute, also see just the tip of the iceberg because very few actually get to this hospital.”
But what if scientists could save more lives by growing organs on demand?
Dr. Vladimir Vasilets is head researcher at the Federal Scientific Research Centre of Transplantology and Bioartificial organs in Moscow. He and his team are working on copying cells to eventually print organs.
“The possibility of creating such bio-artificial fragments of tissues and, in some distant future, of organs, will solve many problems transplantology is now facing,” Vasilets says. “Such possibilities will be the ultimate for a person who has tried all other remedies.”
They are now using a bio-printer. A cartridge of bio-ink containing materials such as proteins and peptides is snapped into a printer followed by cell-friendly biopaper.
Scientist then use a computer to tell the printer the desired shape the matter should take. After processing the commands, the machine performs like a laser jet printer dropping individual ink clusters onto the paper. The clusters fuse together and as the layers of matter build, the structure becomes more complex and eventually the biopaper dissolves.
The ultimate goal is to take patients' cells and use a printer to grow an organ their bodies will be less likely to refuse. Now, that technology is many years off, but what scientists foresee happening in the short term is being able to grow large amounts of tissues they could used for drug trials, bypassing the use of animals and humans.
Tatyana Romantsova hopes scientists will quickly learn how to take this process from the experimental to daily use.
“It would be great, may God help the scientists in this,” she says. “People will be able to live, and live fuller lives, not taking immuno-suppressants that have multiple side effects. It is going to be your own heart, which your system will be friendly to.”
Professor Simon Matskeplishvili, a cardiologist, told RT: “People would know that this isn’t a cheap thing, this would be a very expensive procedure, very difficult procedure – and not for everybody until 10-15 years [from now].”
Copyright: arcticle: Russia Today (RT)
Original article from: http://rt.com/Sci_Tech/2010-02-15/printing-new-organs-true.html
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Patients in need of a transplant know they could face a dangerously long wait. But now scientists may have some good news on the horizon - as human organs in the future may simply be printed out.
Bio-printing technology is being developed by a leading Moscow research centre, a breakthrough that for some could be a matter of life and death.
Tatyana Romantsova is one of the transplant patients. She is in year three of her new life. She is grateful for it and for the time she gets to spend with her daughter. In 2007 Tatyana was suffering from a sickness that threatened to take her away from her family.
Tatyana’s heart could not pump properly as she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Only a heart transplant could save her.
“They put me on the waiting list, my health was failing and I was waiting,” Tatyana recalls. “But I had strong faith that it was not in vain. I had something to live for – a child, a family. I waited for 8 months.”
Thousands around the world die every year waiting on transplant lists.
“Of course, the lack of donor organs is a big problem,” Romantsova claims. “There are so many people who never get this chance to walk and be happy again. So many lose their close ones. We, patients at the institute, also see just the tip of the iceberg because very few actually get to this hospital.”
But what if scientists could save more lives by growing organs on demand?
Dr. Vladimir Vasilets is head researcher at the Federal Scientific Research Centre of Transplantology and Bioartificial organs in Moscow. He and his team are working on copying cells to eventually print organs.
“The possibility of creating such bio-artificial fragments of tissues and, in some distant future, of organs, will solve many problems transplantology is now facing,” Vasilets says. “Such possibilities will be the ultimate for a person who has tried all other remedies.”
They are now using a bio-printer. A cartridge of bio-ink containing materials such as proteins and peptides is snapped into a printer followed by cell-friendly biopaper.
Scientist then use a computer to tell the printer the desired shape the matter should take. After processing the commands, the machine performs like a laser jet printer dropping individual ink clusters onto the paper. The clusters fuse together and as the layers of matter build, the structure becomes more complex and eventually the biopaper dissolves.
The ultimate goal is to take patients' cells and use a printer to grow an organ their bodies will be less likely to refuse. Now, that technology is many years off, but what scientists foresee happening in the short term is being able to grow large amounts of tissues they could used for drug trials, bypassing the use of animals and humans.
Tatyana Romantsova hopes scientists will quickly learn how to take this process from the experimental to daily use.
“It would be great, may God help the scientists in this,” she says. “People will be able to live, and live fuller lives, not taking immuno-suppressants that have multiple side effects. It is going to be your own heart, which your system will be friendly to.”
Professor Simon Matskeplishvili, a cardiologist, told RT: “People would know that this isn’t a cheap thing, this would be a very expensive procedure, very difficult procedure – and not for everybody until 10-15 years [from now].”
Copyright: arcticle: Russia Today (RT)
Original article from: http://rt.com/Sci_Tech/2010-02-15/printing-new-organs-true.html
Forward this news message: