Regenerative Medicine – Growing Human Body Parts

What we used to think of as Star Wars is not really so any longer, it is here. I have posted about regenerative medicine quite frequently here and have a couple interviews with Cook Medical with their products that create scaffolds for body parts to grow and regenerate.

Knee Scaffolds Help help rebuild the Cartilage after injury – Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative Medicine and How it Works – Interview with Cook Biotech (Medical)

Cook Medical also has some online resources available.

Biologic Graft Technology Online Resources from Cook Medical – Regenerative Medicine

Earlier this year Dr. Oz visited Wake Forest.

Dr. Oz Visits a regenerative medicine lab in Wake Forest

Mentioned in the 60 Minute Report is the University of Pittsburg and this video from TED gives more details on what they are doing there with extracellular matrix ECM, and also known as pixie dust.

(CBS) It sounds like science fiction, but the fact is biotech companies and the government are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into research they hope will one day make it possible for us to grow new body parts.

It is called regenerative medicine and the goal is to help the thousands waiting for organ transplants and the hundreds of veterans who return from Iraq and Afghanistan horribly maimed.

So far, researchers have created beating hearts, ears and bladders by manipulating cells in the human body into regrowing tissue. The hope is to one day profoundly change human lives.

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine

And there's Kaitlyne McNamara, a college student who was born with Spina bifida which caused her bladder to fail. Nine years ago, Kaitlyne, along with eight other patients, received new bladders grown from their own cells outside the body.

She says the procedure changed her life. "I never even knew I could get this far. I'm just living a normal adult life."

Growing Body Parts - 60 Minutes - CBS News

Related Reading for Stem Cells

Regenerative Medicine: Clinical Trial To Begin with Women in Australia Using Stem Cells To ReGrow Breasts – Has Been Successful with Pigs

Stem Cells Turn Cloudy Eyes into Clear Eyes

Regenerative Medicine News – Fully Functional Rabbit Penis Created That Works

Cook Medical Contract Gives Access to Health Care Providers through Premier Purchasing Partners to purchase Tissue Repair Products – Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative Medicine – Material and Cell Based Regeneration of the Human Body

The Heart Can Repair Itself – Stem Cells Help Speed up the Healing

FDA OKs First Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells – Geron Biotech

Heartbeat of a new industry – Stem Cell Storage Banks

Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells

Prostate Gland grown from stem cell - But Who Would Want One?

Testicles Could Be New Source Of Stem Cells – Stem Cells for Males only

Stem Cells and Breast Surgery

I have stem cells in my belly…harvesting fat..

Pre-clinical Data Demonstrate Ability To Regenerate An Entire Bladder

Menstrual blood -- a valuable source of multipotential stem cells?

Tapping Into the Code of Life With Science - Some of this is here today...not science fiction...medical technology is on the rise...

Cloned cells bring hope of therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Technorati Tags: regenerative medicine, bladders, kidney, Wake Forest, healthcare, stem cells, transplants, Science, Research and Development

1 comments :

Cynthia Beattie McgillDecember 17, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Stem cell therapy is set to become a major part of ATS, cancer, hearing loss treatments and of course plastic surgery. The need is however, is to ensure that these are stored in perfect condition before actually getting transplanted to the receiver’s body. This has made the industry of 'controlled rate freezers' to grow at a fast pace to keep up with the demand. I am doing a paper on ‘The Uses of Stem Cell Perseverance and the Techniques of Storing Them’ and found your post valuable.

Cynthia Beattie Mcgill