Good News From the Lab

Scientists in Pennsylvania implanted a crucial blood vessel into the heart of a six-year-old girl, possibly saving her life.

Other than just being incredibly good news, what's really remarkable about this story is that the blood vessel they used was built in a laboratory.

This is yet more progress towards the ability to grow kidneys, lungs and other organs for transplant in the future.

While scientists say the use of these lab-grown "solid" organs is still five to ten years away, there are more and more instances of the technology helping people right now.

A girl in Peoria, Illinois recently got an experimental windpipe that used a synthetic scaffold covered in stem cells from her own bone marrow.

Other examples include dozens of people thriving with experimental bladders made from their own cells, surgeons using a patient's own cells to repair cartilage in the knee, and burn victims being treated with lab-grown skin.

They've also developed the basis for replacement ears in a lab at Wake Forest University.

(When I mentioned this to the wife, she mumbled something that sounded like, "Think they'll listen any better than the real ones?")

I'll continue to be on the lookout for updates to this technology.