Bioengineered Organs

Functional miniature livers have been grown at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Cells were taken from animal livers and then progenitor cells and endothelial cells filled in the collagen support structure. They were then put in a bioreactor which provided an environment with appropriate nutrients for new liver tissue to develop. The livers were determined to be individually functional but they have not yet been implanted to test if the body will accept them. It is possible that the body could reject the newly grown liver or stop functioning once inside the body. They consider this a small but significant step in the right direction towards more organ regeneration.

I found this article extremely interesting because I believe this is the area of biomedical engineering I want to go into. I think this is an amazing development and will be limitlessly beneficial once growing organs becomes successful and regular. The problem of organ donors would be eliminated and this would create an option for research and testing without the issues of living test subjects.

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