healthmedicinet

We’ve already grown — and eaten — hamburger in the lab (never mind that it cost $380,000 and was said to taste “not that juicy”), so why not grow organs?

In August, scientists at Ohio State University revealed they’d converted human skin cells into stem cells, then used them to grow the first near-complete human brain in a lab, containing a spinal cord, cortex, midbrain, brain stem, multiple cell types, circuitry and even a retina — essentially, everything but a vascular system.

Other organs successfully grown from stem cells in a petri dish include a primitive liver, heart tissue, noses, ears, wind pipes and blood vessels.

How does it work? The process isn’t all that different from 3D printing as described above — and varies from tissue to tissue — but generally, instead of “printing” the cells into a supportive lattice, researchers assist the more complex organs (think spinal cords, brains, etc.) in growing on their own.

A German team used the technique in 2014 to grow complete spinal cords by embedding stem cells in a three-dimensional, nutrient-rich “gel,” then letting them do their thing.

As with simpler 3D printed organs, some of these lab-grown organs have already been used provisionally. One remarkable case: that of Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Polish man left paralyzed from the waist down after a knife attack in 2010. Using cells taken from Fidyka’s nose, doctors in England grew and implanted a “nerve bridge” in his damaged spinal column. After 19 months of treatment, Fidyka regained some movement and sensation in his legs.

Encouraging as Fidyka’s experience has been, however, it’s more of an initial step, with plenty more work to be done.

Commenting on the work of another team that successfully grew a functioning thymus in the lab, Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at the UK’s University College London, said we’re still at least a decade away from lab-grown organs like the thymus being a “a safe and effective routine therapy.”

“The time and resources required … will be very significant,” he told The Guardian, “10 years and tens of millions of [British] pounds at a bare minimum.”

Which Leaves Us Where, Exactly?