Scientists Are Solving Our Donor Crisis With Lab-Grown Organs
When a part of our car starts to act up, we call up a mechanic and ask them to replace that part. Sadly, we can't do that with our body parts — not yet at least.
As organs get sickened, from disease or an accident, and stop working at their peak, major things can go wrong inside the body.
When this happens, many times the only solution is an organ transplant from a living donor.
Sadly, our current system of organ transplantation (from live, brain dead donors) isn't working — it leaves many people to die while they wait for organs.
So, researchers have been looking for other options. Specifically, they've been trying to build organs in the lab using a patient's own cells. Doctors think they can take a patient's cells, grow them in the lab, then place them onto either a "ghost organ" which has been washed clean of the donor's cells or onto a man-made scaffold shaped into the organ.
These man-made scaffolds are materials that won't create an immune system reaction from the body, but will also be a good base for the cells to attach to and live on.
Researchers are hopeful they can get a patient's own cells to perform the functions of various organs, but some are more difficult and complex than others. While some of these organs have been successfully grown in a lab, others have not been quite as successful. Scroll through this list to see which ones are working, and which still have a ways to go.