Tissue engineering ON Nat Geo tonight

[Evo]

tissue engineering ON Nat Geo tonight!

This should be a very interesting show. if you can get National Geogrpahic, you might want to tune in

Episode Detail: How to Build a Beating Heart - Explorer
The science of tissue engineering is examined in this look at how scientists are learning how to grow replacement body parts, including skin, muscles and vital organs.

Tonight 10EST/9CST



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXO_ApjKPaI

Amazing tissue engineering slide show below.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4828/Overview#tab-Photos/0

 

[╔(σ_σ)╝]

Evo this is gross. Please lock :-).

 

[waht]

Wow that's amazing. That guy didn't even have any scarring after the treatment.

 

[rootX]

You meant 10 PM EST? It's on now. But there's also one on 1 AM EST (10 PM PST).

 

[Evo]

You meant 10 PM EST? It's on now. But there's also one one 1 AM EST (10 PM PST).

Sorry, 10EST.

 

[Evo]

Holy cow, did you see the guy that regrew his fingertip? Why isn't this stuff readily available?

 

[Evo]

Unbelievable, more people are interested in posting about pop singers that can't remember the national anthem than life saving medical breakthroughs

What is wrong with this world?

That young mother waiting for a heart transplant, why don't more people donate organs?

I am an organ donor. If I get too old and my organs can't be used for transplants, I hope they can be used for this kind of research.

But the response to this thread and other threads in medical sciences is a sad testimonial to the rampant lack of caring in society.

Only 30% of Americans are registered organ donors (drivers license, etc...) and many of these may not have suitable organs.

 

[Mororvia]

If it makes you feel better, I'm recording it

 

[Evo]

If it makes you feel better, I'm recording it

You're a good person.

 

[berkeman]

I'm only over the air DTV. Can I watch it someplace online?

 

[rootX]

Glad that there are still shows like this . I couldn't see all of it but it was amazing. Meanwhile, Discovery is playing some Gold Rush/American Chopper crap.

That young mother waiting for a heart transplant, why don't more people donate organs?

I am an organ donor. If I get too old and my organs can't be used for transplants, I hope they can be used for this kind of research.

Each time we go and renew our health cards (Canada), they provide us a simple organ donation form to fill. It only takes like 15 seconds to select what you want to donate and hand them back the form while they make your health card. Everyone in my family has filled that form.

 

[Evo]

I'm only over the air DTV. Can I watch it someplace online?

Nat Geo might put it online to be viewed, I hope so.

Glad that there are still shows like this . I couldn't see all of it but it was amazing.

Each time we go and renew our health cards (Canada), they provide us a simple organ donation form to fill. It only takes like 15 seconds to select what you want to donate and hand them back the form while they make your health card. Everyone in my family has filled that form.

You're a good doggy.

 

[Proton Soup]

Unbelievable, more people are interested in posting about pop singers that can't remember the national anthem than life saving medical breakthroughs

What is wrong with this world? I'm so disgusted.

That young mother waiting for a heart transplant, why don't more people donate organs?

I am an organ donor. If I get too old and my organs can't be used for transplants, I hope they can be used for this kind of research.

But the response to this thread and other threads in medical sciences is a sad testimonial to the rampant lack of caring in society.

Only 30% of Americans are registered organ donors (drivers license, etc...) and many of these may not have suitable organs.

que? i thought about responding earlier, but i didn't want to come across as debbie downer. part of the reason this stuff isn't available is, for better or worse, FDA. you can't just go sprinkling pig bladder matrix on a bunch of folks because two people had a good result. takes years of clinical trials. because weird and unexpected things can happen. people have been injected with embryonic stem cells only to break out in tumors and die. plus, pig carry pathogens, which is another risk. maybe less risky if you need a heart valve and would die anyway, but most of us don't die from a missing limb. plus, that matrix material seems to have growth factors in it that may be denatured or otherwise destroyed with aggressive sterilization procedures. so, it will probably go back to trying to discover the fundamental science behind how it works. and then duplicate that in a synthetic, non-pig-derived product. and THAT will probably not only take a long time, but be more financially lucrative than just scraping a pig bladder and washing it.

edit: i think there may be both religious reasons for not donating, plus the fear that you may not get the most life-saving care with donation.

 

[╔(σ_σ)╝]

Whenever I have to fill the form to donate my organ I always check no. :-)

I am afraid that if I ever get into a situation where I am in a coma or unconscious the organ people might just harvest my organs before I die.

Does this make me a bad person ?

 

[Kevin_Axion]

No, I forgot to send my paper back saying I accept being an Organ Donor, at least you put the initiative in.

 

[mheslep]

I saw it last night; found it all impressive. I was aware of the regrown rat heart status some years ago. But that severed and completely regrown finger digit? The massive skin regrowth of the cop who suffered 2nd degree burns without scarring? Amazing. The MIT kid who came up with the capillary matrix formed from a cotton candy machine, where the sugar is dissolved away leaving vessel cavities. Yes! I had to keep checking that I had not drifted over to some crackpot or a sales channel. I'll wager Rham Emanuel was watching that regrown finger tip segment.
http://pinoynets.com/files/2010/02/rahm-emanuel-mtp.jpg

I have many questions. For instance, it makes sense, I suppose, that the new muscle cells in a re-qrown human adult sized heart need to be 'taught' to beat. But then I realized that a human fetus heart starts beating within a few weeks after conception. What 'teaches' those cells, if teaching is required at all? Mother's pulse?

Evo, maybe this thread belongs better in the the medical or bio forums under the topic of extra cellular matrix (ECM), the central technological idea from what I could tell. ECM on google scholar: 57,400 hits.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=extracellular+matrix&as_sdt=0,47&as_ylo=2008&as_vis=0

 

[Nicodemus]

It's really impressive to see that all put together, not just a string of separate stories and studies. If we can make it long enough, humanity could have a bright future.

 

[Proton Soup]

was anyone else alarmed by what the guy who regrew his finger said? that after a few days, his smell became offensive and he smelled like a pig? i don't know what to think about that. surely, if it was just the powder on his finger smelling, it would have been noticed earlier. but I'm starting to wonder if the odor he emanated was not local to the finger, but systemic. a systemic reaction that makes you smell like swine would freak me out a bit.

 

[Nicodemus]

was anyone else alarmed by what the guy who regrew his finger said? that after a few days, his smell became offensive and he smelled like a pig? i don't know what to think about that. surely, if it was just the powder on his finger smelling, it would have been noticed earlier. but I'm starting to wonder if the odor he emanated was not local to the finger, but systemic. a systemic reaction that makes you smell like swine would freak me out a bit.

Well... I realize this is going to go over like a lead brick, but we DO resemble swine a LOT. I wouldn't be shocked that process, which did include denaturing damaged proteins (read: cook), I'm not surprised.

Burning people and burning pigs smell very VERY similar minus the hair, but this is one of those things you can take my word for, or ask a soldier or a doctor. Exuding a porky smell all over would be worrying, but we're REALLY wired to smell things like meat, rot, and cooking... I suspect the 'powder'.

 

[mheslep]

was anyone else alarmed by what the guy who regrew his finger said? that after a few days, his smell became offensive and he smelled like a pig? ...

Well organic chemistry in chemistry in action often does just that. There's the tissue growth repair part (how its initiated I have no idea)which can have strong odors, then there's the ongoing inevitable infection wars going on at the site, meaning dying bacteria and B cells continually going at it.

 

[Proton Soup]

Well... I realize this is going to go over like a lead brick, but we DO resemble swine a LOT. I wouldn't be shocked that process, which did include denaturing damaged proteins (read: cook), I'm not surprised.

Burning people and burning pigs smell very VERY similar minus the hair, but this is one of those things you can take my word for, or ask a soldier or a doctor. Exuding a porky smell all over would be worrying, but we're REALLY wired to smell things like meat, rot, and cooking... I suspect the 'powder'.

yeah, i believe the human carcass is referred to as "long pig" in cannibalese.

suspect the powder? yeah, that's the prime suspect of course. but he was using it from day one (of his regrowth cycle), and it was only a few days into the process that he says his smell became offensive. only thing i can imagine is that a few days going in, the pig ECM that was in the rebuilt part went through some sort of catabolism, and then he was excreting these breakdown products, and that caused the smell.

Well organic chemistry in chemistry in action often does just that. There's the tissue growth repair part (how its initiated I have no idea)which can have strong odors, then there's the ongoing inevitable infection wars going on at the site, meaning dying bacteria and B cells continually going at it.

infection is a compelling thought, but i can't wrap my head around the sort of anabolic growth present in the face of that infection.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

It probably smelt like burnt hair, it's the activity of the $$\beta$$-Carotene in the regrowth of the skin I'm suspecting. Conclusion: burnt hair smells awful, I don't recommend it.

 

[Nicodemus]

yeah, i believe the human carcass is referred to as "long pig" in cannibalese.

suspect the powder? yeah, that's the prime suspect of course. but he was using it from day one (of his regrowth cycle), and it was only a few days into the process that he says his smell became offensive. only thing i can imagine is that a few days going in, the pig ECM that was in the rebuilt part went through some sort of catabolism, and then he was excreting these breakdown products, and that caused the smell.



infection is a compelling thought, but i can't wrap my head around the sort of anabolic growth present in the face of that infection.

You may be right, but, the more ideas get floated, the more I think that we're looking at a combination of smells. Even a well tended injury or incision has a war against infection going, it's just ideally not losing to that infection or hindering recovery. As I said, we are VERY sensitive to the smell of spoiled meat, cooked meat, and other big hints as to what is tastey and what is not.

Oh, and long pig, I didn't know that and YEEAACCH. So much for pork in the forseeable future >.<

 

[lisab]

You may be right, but, the more ideas get floated, the more I think that we're looking at a combination of smells. Even a well tended injury or incision has a war against infection going, it's just ideally not losing to that infection or hindering recovery. As I said, we are VERY sensitive to the smell of spoiled meat, cooked meat, and other big hints as to what is tastey and what is not.

Oh, and long pig, I didn't know that and YEEAACCH. So much for pork in the forseeable future >.<

Oh, even that can't put me off bacon .