Embryonic Stem Cells are those undifferentiated masses of cells that are capable of differentiating into a myriad of heterogeneous cell types required to form a functional organ. Regenerative medicine is that branch which deals with engineering or regenerating tissues that are damaged. Using these very concepts, a team at the UC San Francisco faculty are trying to grow organs in their laboratory.
This study is primarily aimed at patients with deformities of these bones or soft tissues, something that renders them isolated with a lifetime of corrective surgeries for no fault of their own. These scientists have laid out a brilliant plan- they isolate a patients’ stem cells, use it cultivate tiny functioning segments of organs, called organoids. Later analyse these same structures in order to pinpoint when and where exactly in the fetal development do such design flaws occur leading to the deformity. The three stages in this procedure are- (1) deducing how the deformity or the disease itself comes into being, (2) now that the cause and the root of the cause itself is clear, a more targeted approach can be designed, and (3) because this experiment is in vitro, the risks are greatly reduced.
“Take an organ
like the lung. Its basic functional units are a tube and a sac, and outside that sac are capillaries that allow gas exchange. Hundreds of millions of tubes and sacs make a lung,” explains Mr.Gartner, one of scientists. “You can make the little sacs and the tubes in a dish as an organoid model. But we don’t know how to drive the self-organization of those units into much more complex, elaborate, highly ramified structures.”Presently, Mr.Ophir Klein, the lead scientist is growing teeth, Mr.Jeffrey Bush a member of the team is growing – tissues, another scientist Mr.Jason Pomerantz is growing muscle, Ms.Sarah Knox antoher team scientist is growing salivary glands; and lastly, Mr. Edward Hsiao is printing 3-D bone using a machine.
We live in world where people with deformities suffer every day, one way or another and those in need of an organ transplant die waiting for a donor. This study seems to intersect with regenerative medicine and genetics at complex, yet compelling angles. Someday if this dream does become reality, the world will be a better place.
