In the new procedure, doctors extract muscle and bladder cells from a small piece of the patient’s own bladder. The cells are grown in a Petri dish, then layered onto a three-dimensional mold shaped like a bladder.
In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.
Atala is working to grow 20 different tissues and organs, including blood vessels and hearts, in the laboratory, according to the university.
My question is…will this technology ever get to the point where I can just grow another organ for the hell of it? And then I can put my new heart in a mason jar on the mantle and when people ask, I’ll say, “A girl stole my heart once. I got it back.”
Okay, I’ll stop. This is serious stuff and it’s good to see the technology is advancing.