A REMEDY FOR DEATH

Well, it’s not quite that simple, yet. But the day is coming.  In a couple of other recent entries in this blog, I mentioned how bio-engineers and experimental surgeons were using “scaffolds” as frameworks for spreading human stem cells to regrow that organ or body part.  (That related to a three-part series in the New York Times by Henry Fountain.)

In one of those intriguing synchronicities, on the day of the third of these Times articles, the Wall Street Journal ran an equally-well researched article on a very different method for growing replacement human body parts.

That article, by Robert Lee Hotz, was “Need an Artery for Bypass Surgery or Custom Cartilage for That Worn-out Knee? Hit Print.” It focused on how a new breed of printers were producing three-dimensional living tissue in the form of organs.  (There's an intriguing video link, as well . . . if it's still up.)

These printers are a lot like the ink-jet printer on your desk, but “print” out with a kind of “bio-ink” composed of stem cells taken from the patient’s own body, usually bone marrow or fat. The printer heads circle and circle, spewing out this substance, gradually building up into shapes. (There’s a good bit more to it than that, so kids don’t try it at home with your faithful HP ink-jet!)

Summing up: in  research underway in some labs, relatively hard plastic shapes are used as matrices upon which to “turkey baste” (one bio-engineer’s folksy term for it) stem cells so they can grow into a corresponding shape.  In another experiments, a parchment-like matrix is used.

And in this third method, a kind of bio-ink jet printer spews out substance, gradually building up a 3-D form that can become an organ, or blend with others into a body part.

By the way, the 3-D printers are already in use in a variety of ways.  See the London Telegraph article “3D printing: the technology that could re-shape the world.” (Sorry, I don’t have the link at hand.)  From the article by the Telegraph’s Shane Richmond: “Instead of printing ink on paper, 3D printers use a fine powder that sets into a hard, plaster-like finish, building up an object one layer at a time. Building an object layer by layer wastes less material than traditional production methods and makes it possible to produce things that are very hard to make in other ways.”

In short, if we can use 3-D printers to fabricate parts (in some cases rip-offs of designer bling) it’s not a very big stretch to see that kind of progress coming soon in the field of bio-engineering.

I’ve been following all these aspects for years, since way back when I first got the idea that has grown into my technothriller, A REMEDY FOR DEATH – Playing God with Body, Soul and Bio-tech.      A REMEDY FOR DEATH -- more info and to order

In the weeks to come, I’ll be digging through my files for other intriguing stuff (to me, at least).  Tissue regeneration, organ regeneration and other kinds of bio-engineering human organs involve only one of the strands, so there’s much more to come.