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Printing a human kidney - Anthony Atala

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Surgeon Anthony Atala demonstrates an early-stage experiment that could someday solve the organ-donor problem: a 3D printer that uses living cells to output a transplantable kidney. Using similar technology, Dr. Atala's young patient Luke Massella received an engineered bladder 10 years ago; we meet him onstage.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Read a review in "Trends in Cell Biology" about 3D cell culture, the culture of living cells within microfabricated devices having 3D structures that mimic tissue and organ-specific micro-architecture.Organ culture is a development from tissue culture and is able to accurately model functions of an organ in various states and conditions by the use of the actual in vitro organ itself.Charles Augustus Lindbergh, co-author of the 1938 book "The Culture of Organs," was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Regenerative medicine is the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore or establish normal function.The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is a leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies. Physicians and scientists at WFIRM were the first in the world to engineer laboratory-grown organs that were successfully implanted into humans.Kidney transplantation is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage renal disease.

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