io9
Today a man in Finland has a new jaw, thanks to specially-treated stem cells harvested from his fatty tissues and grown in his stomach. It's not the first time researchers have grown bones inside a stomach (we featured a picture of some bioengineered teeth grown in rats' stomachs), but it's the first successful surgery of this type with a human. A group of Finnish doctors today announced the transplant was successful and that nobody looking at the patient would be able to tell that he'd had the procedure done.
According to a story in Reuters:
Researchers said on Friday the breakthrough opened up new ways to treat severe tissue damage and made the prospect of custom-made living spare parts for humans a step closer to reality. [Lead researcher Riitta Suuronen] and her colleagues . . . isolated stem cells from the patient's fat and grew them for two weeks in a specially formulated nutritious soup that included the patient's own blood serum.I'm ready for the aftermarket body parts revolution.In this case they identified and pulled out cells called mesenchymal stem cells — immature cells than can give rise to bone, muscle or blood vessels. When they had enough cells to work with, they attached them to a scaffold made out of a calcium phosphate biomaterial and then put it inside the patient's abdomen to grow for nine months. The cells turned into a variety of tissues and even produced blood vessels, the researchers said. The block was later transplanted into the patient's head and connected to the skull bone using screws and microsurgery to connect arteries and veins to the vessels of the neck.
Finnish Patient Gets New Jaw [Reuters]
Comments
DId he get hooker headers and glasspacks installed? How about a short-shift kit?
Oh wait, this isn't Jalopnik?
@Seth L: Double overhead cam with your bioengineered jaw, sir?
does he now go by the name of baron von underbite?
//and then put it inside the patient's abdomen to grow for nine months//
If that ain't a hell of a coincidence :/
so basically what you're saying is that teeth might not actually be completely science fiction?
@cde:
Exactly. I mean, how far away are we from a man gestating a child?
@Seth L:
Forever. By the time a man can gestate a child, artificial wombs will be good to go. Really, who would go through that if they didn't have to?
Blech... Science is gross.
@Ryan.H:
I am so waiting for Bujold's uterine replicators - among several other of her truly excellent technologies. Any day now!
@Ryan.H:
Right, and wasn't there an article recently proving that male spines are not strong enough to support pregnancy?
So very creepy-cool. Even with a tough spine, I don't think I'd want to be pregnant. Nope.
@Seth L: And besides, who would want to live in an old Sliders episode....
You can see the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus in the stem cell. Why they'd condone this evil-seeming science is beyond my understanding of everything...
@Seth L: I'm sure loI've heard lots of my friends' wives say that.
@Eac_O_System:
The stem cells were derived from a fertilized egg, so who would have a problem with it?
A good friend of mine crushed his shoulder and throat in a construction accident 28 years ago. Something like this might mean he'll get the use of his right arm back, and regrow his vocal cords. It happened the day after his 21st birthday.
@Seth L: Where does it say there was a fertilized egg involved? This procedure used adult stem cells (the kind that actually work) - not embryonic stem cells, which have yet to create a viable cure for anything.
Go adult stem cells!
Neato. Where is the guy and why isn't he posting photos of all this all over the net? Come on, Finnish dude. Get with it.
And... think how this could make a great hobby in the future. We could grow extra bones for ourselves and try to create new limbs. I've always wanted extra fingers! Why stick to replacement when you could have enhancement!
The only problem with this is that it is TOO AWESOME. As the owner of a profoundly sub-standard meatspace avatar, I'm all for anything that suggests the potential for enhancement. Then I can join The Reals! Oh wait.
But, srsly. Awesome.
@noncornbatant: Yeah, I need some repairs too. Gimme your stomach and I'll grow em in there.
"Man, this kind of tastes like tripe. This too....why does everything taste like...OH NOOOOOO!"
Does it... does it work for organs? All I want for Christmas is a functional pancreas!
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