-
Asked by hdavy to James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 23 Mar 2011 in Categories: Your Research.
-
Jayne Charnock answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Well, its a big ask, but i think we might just about get there- possibly not in 10 years though. Scientists have managed to successfully grow some organs already including replacement bladders. The things is, its not just about getting the cells to turn into cardiac or ‘heart’ cells, but also getting them to arrange themselves into the full organ. Lots of research is being done on how we can direct this and provide the cells with biological ‘scaffolds’ to support their growth.
I’d say “watch this space!!”
-
-
Sharon Sneddon answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Hi hdavy
Scientists are able at the moment to grow lots of cells which make up organs, but at present, we are not able to put all these together to form a full organ like the heart as yet as this is technologcially quite difficult, especially when you think of all the blood vessels and supporting structures in the organs we are going to have to make work. There has been sucess in rebuilding a windpipe using stem cells which shows that this technology has good promise, and I think that in the next 10 years, a lot of advances will be made!
-
Kara Cerveny answered on 23 Mar 2011:
I think that this is certainly a goal. Some scientists are already pretty good at growing some specific types of cells (like cardiac muscle cells or skin cells), and other scientists, biomedical engineers, are starting to collaborate with biologists to create hybrid artificial hearts or joints that can be covered with patient cells. I’m not sure if in the next 10 years we’ll see replacement organs made from induced pluripotent stem cells (stem cells that are derived from a patient’s skin and chemically encouraged to become undifferentiated), but I think in the next 20-25 years it is likely.
-
James Chan answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Hi there.
People are now desperately trying to grow organs with stem cells like you suggested, but we’re only just getting started.To help you imagine the scale of this challenge, let me tell you about the heart lung machine! People who have cardiac surgery need to have their hearts stopped so that the surgeons can operate on them – but the body needs fresh oxygenated blood all the time, so what you do is divert all the blood into a heart lung machine which tries to do all the things the heart and lung do: oxygenate the blood and pump it around the body. Your heart is about the size of your fist. Your lungs are just inside your chest so you can imagine their sizes. Guess how big the heart lung machine is? It’s massive! It weights 700 pounds, like a small car! Here’s a picture. http://www.dimensionsguide.com/dimension-of-a-heart-lung-machine/
So, this is the best we can do so far in trying to replicate what the function of the heart.Now, instead of using a machine, we’re trying to use cells. The problem is, we are used to growing cells on plastic plates – flat surfaces. So how would you make an organ which, like the heart, is a 3 dimensional lump of tissue?
Clever guys have come up with the idea of making a ‘scaffold’ – like a frame where the cells can sit on. That’s great, but then, you now have to think how to get any structure to this shape. Think about the structure of the heart. It has muscular walls that pump the blood, it has nerves that kick start the muscle into contracting, and it has lots of piping to send blood around the lungs and body.
Now think back to the scaffold.. we can’t just turn the entire lump of cells into one type of heart cell. You need to tell different parts to become different types of heart cells – nerves, muscles, piping cells etc. so this gets really really complicated!But I’m an optimist so I think it’s possible. we never thought we’d launch a rocket into outer space 100 years ago and look at your playstation – it’s a million times more advanced than the computer they used to send the first rocket into space!! that’s why we need guys like you to come along and help us solve this puzzle!
Comments