Apropos of Xeni's post below regarding Dave Jacobs' quest for a kidney transplant, the new issue of Technology Review features a survey of the state-of-the-art in bioartificial organs, hybdrids of lab-built components and human cells:
"For now at least, they are external devices, and the cells inside them stay healthy for no more than a few weeks. Even such temporary support could be a boon for medicine, sustaining thousands of patients and enabling them to regain the function of their own organs or survive until transplant organs become available. But the real revolution will come with the development of permanent, implantable bioartificial organs. That will require new materials that allow the cells to receive nourishment from the body but still protect them from attacks by the recipients’ immune systems. Such devices are years from fruition…"
With the United Network for Organ Sharing counting more than 80,000 people waiting for transplants in the US alone, time is of the essence.
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