Monday, October 31, 2005

The Chronicle: 10/28/2005: The Man Who Would Murder Death: "Among the speakers was Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University. Dr. Atala, a surgeon and a researcher, explained how he and his colleagues are growing new human tissue and organs%uFFFD%u2014 bladders, kidneys, blood vessels, cartilage%uFFFD%u2014 in the laboratory using a patient's own cells.

For example, a few healthy cells could be taken from a cancer-stricken bladder and used to a grow a new bladder, which could theoretically then be transplanted with a very low chance of rejection. In 1999, Dr. Atala's team became the first to successfully transplant a lab-grown organ%uFFFD%u2014 by placing a new bladder in a beagle. Clinical trials will begin soon to see if this procedure also works in humans."

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