Here’s research that could take the piss out of disease—and it’s no joke. For the first time, scientists reporting in Nature Medicine have created lab-grown kidneys in rats that produce urine after transplantation.
If the work can be replicated in humans, patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease could one day have “an organ that’s grown on demand—a tailored organ that can be transplanted and replaces the failing organ,” says study author Harald Ott, a bioengineer at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Report this comment
By and large this appears to be a waste of research money! Organs like kidney are very complex and it is hard to believe that just by using a pressure gradient they put back right cells at the right place and cells established the right connections to become functional again! Is it a publicity and grant drawing stunt? Did they perform extensive high resolution light and electron microscopic studies to see the cellular connections and organization!….. Good business guys!
Report this comment
The state should invest more in fundamental research, physics, chemistry and math to solve the organ shortage! By and large the current ‘show’ appears to be a waste of research money! Organs like kidney are very complex and it is hard to believe that just by using a pressure gradient they put back right cells at the right place and cells established the right connections to become functional again! Is it a publicity and grant drawing stunt? Did they perform extensive high resolution light and electron microscopic studies to see the cellular connections and organization!….. Good business guys! Sanal MG
Report this comment
Sanal, how is research supporting fundamental physics, chemistry and math going to solve this problem? There has been eons of research on these topics at the fundamental level. John Erdos spent his lifetime understanding conjugations of prime numbers and other fundamental math concepts—I understand that these concepts ultimately do have application but that is the purpose to apply them and use them to solve real-world problems.
There is in my opinion a fundamental gap between a lot of “pure’ research and solving real-world problems. Maybe some peoples brains don’t work this way (i.e. towards application) but that is the reason for the research; to benefit humanity.
I understand you are talking about the specifics but they need to start somewhere and it seems based o this research that they are getting somewhere.