tissue engineering

Let’s-a-Go! These Robots Get a Power-Up From Mushrooms

Unlike fussy animal tissue, fungi are easy to grow and thrive in tough conditions, making them ideal for powering biohybrid machines.

Science Adam Kovac Aug 28

Scientists Just 3D Printed a Transplantable Human Ear

Scientists have developed an innovative 3D bioprinter capable of generating replacement tissue that’s strong enough to withstand transplantation. To show its power, the scientists printed a jaw bone, muscle, and cartilage structures, as well as a stunningly accurate human ear. After nearly 10 years in development, a research team led by Anthony Atala from Wake…

Tech News George Dvorsky Feb 15

This Biotech Startup Promises Lab-Grown Pork Within Five Years

The future of lab-grown meat is coming. Or at least it feels that way, based on burgeoning interest in the biotech community. One by one, companies are staking out different animal tissues to grow in vitro for human consumption. First there was beef. Then there was chicken. Now there’s pork. San Fransisco-based startup Memphis Meats…

Tech News Maddie Stone Feb 1

3D Tissue Engineering May One Day Solve Both Impotence And Miscarriage

A study published last week in the journal Biofabrication describes a new technique to build replacements for damaged three dimensional human tissues. The researchers running the study are trying to make an eardrum. But their technique, if successful, might also one day create replacements for complex reproductive tissues. [Image: Cells growing on engineered scafffold from…

Tech News Diane Kelly May 14

Your Bio-Engineered Penis Is Almost Ready

Using advanced techniques in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, doctors in the U.S. are reporting their first successes with lab-grown penises. They’ve worked in rabbits, and now scientists say they’re ready to begin testing the penises on humans. A group of researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina are in…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 9

Medical breakthrough could lead to functional artificial skin

Swiss researchers have achieved a major breakthrough in the development of bioengineered skin. The new grafts, which are about to undergo clinical trials, work a lot like the real thing — because they actually contain functioning blood vessels and lymph capillaries. The breakthrough was made by Daniela Marino and her team from the Tissue Biology…

io9 George Dvorsky Jan 30

Why is this man growing a nose on his forehead?

Yes, this man actually has a nose growing on his forehead. It’s part of a cutting-edge transplant procedure, and doctors will eventually replace his damaged nose with the new, healthy organ. Image via Reuters According to Reuters: A new nose, grown by surgeons on Xiaolian’s forehead, is pictured before being transplanted to replace the original…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 27

Lab grown burger will be the most expensive ever served

A 5-oz beef patty assembled from thousands of teeny-tiny meat strips, cultured from the stem cells of a single cow, is to be served next week week in London. The price: £250,000, or about $385,000. Via The Independent: The scientist behind the “in vitro” burger believes synthetic meat could help to save the world from…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jul 28

How to grow a human heart in three (relatively) easy steps

The day is fast approaching when scientists will finally be able to reconstruct a person’s heart from a clump of cells and a simple scaffold. We’re not there yet, but this video will show you how it’s done. Brendan Maher from Nature News has published a fascinating feature on this topic, along with an accompanying…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 4

Researchers grow cyborg tissue that can sense its environment

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a cyborg-like tissue that can facilitate cell growth, while simultaneously measuring the ongoing activity and status of those cells. They did so by embedding a three-dimensional network of functional, biocompatible, nanoscale wires into engineered human tissues. The breakthrough could have implications for the future of drug testing and regenerative…

io9 George Dvorsky Aug 27

Billionaire Peter Thiel invests in the development of 3D printed meat

The prospect of lab-grown meat has intrigued both vegetarians and environmentalists for years. Humans eat about 240 billion kilograms of meat each year — a voracious demand for animal protein that has resulted in environmental degradation, cruelty to livestock, and the spread of dangerous diseases. And now, owing to a $350,000 donation by the Thiel…

io9 George Dvorsky Aug 20

Scientists engineer a cyborg jellyfish from rat cells and silicone

In this video, released yesterday, you can watch what might be called the world’s first cyborg lifeform. Called a medusoid, it’s a completely engineered jellyfish that blends living and non-living parts — specifically, the creature is a thin layer of rat heart muscle cells grown on top of a layer of elastic silicone. The result…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 23

Researchers turn skin cells into healthy, beating heart tissue

For the first time ever, scientists have genetically transformed skin cells from heart failure patients into healthy, beating, “young” heart tissue. This is a fantastic achievement for the field of regenerative medicine. “We have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez May 23

The world’s first lab-grown hamburger could be created by August of 2012

There’s no two ways about it: humans love meat. By 2030, it’s estimated that the world’s annual meat production will reach 376 million tons, up from 218 million tons in 1999. But conventional meat production is notoriously wasteful, and it’s becoming more and more unsustainable by the day. Many scientists believe that meat grown in…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 15

If You Can’t Get an Organ, an Organoid Might Do

The line waiting for organ donors is 112,381 people long and growing, and 18 people daily die waiting. To help patients survive the interim, scientists are working on “organoinds”—mini organs that would temporarily operate outside the body. Dr. Rober Hariri, a surgeon and CEO of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, is using stem cells derived from placentas…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Oct 19

Functioning anal sphincter grown in a petri dish

There is no denying that growing an anal sphincter in a petri dish is hilarious. There is also no denying that nobody reading this would enjoy being without an anal sphincter, so it’s good that there are back-ups being developed. There are three main features that everyone needs in their various sphincters. The first is…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 12

Skin Made from Spiderwebs: No Longer Just a Nightmare

A new technique has been developed that uses spider silk to make human skin, suitable for skin grafts. And the world trembles. Find out why spider webs offer the best possible material to use for a skin replacement. Skin, though it is flimsy when compared to things like knives, or needles, or the sharp corners…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 11

“Humanized” mice hybrids could save your life

Mice are the first step in trying out new drugs that may one day help humans. The problem is that these rodents metabolize drugs in often a very different way than we do, meaning that much of the research in mice can’t be applied to humans. Researchers from Stanford University may have found a way…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jul 15

A pill that could repair your heart and prevent heart attacks

Scientists have refined tissue repair techniques using stem cells to the point where they believe we might have pills that repair heart muscles in 10 years. Reports the BBC: Currently, any damage caused during a heart attack is permanent. More people survive attacks than in the past as a result of better medications, but their…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 10

Zebrafish reveal all the ingredients needed to regenerate a limb

The cool trick about stem cells is that they’re super adaptable, and can become any other sort of cell, right? So why not use a mass of stem cells to regenerate a limb? Or grow an extra one? Well, it looks like it’s all a bit more complicated than that. According to new research on…

io9 Tim Barribeau May 20

tissue engineering

Let’s-a-Go! These Robots Get a Power-Up From Mushrooms

Scientists Just 3D Printed a Transplantable Human Ear

This Biotech Startup Promises Lab-Grown Pork Within Five Years

3D Tissue Engineering May One Day Solve Both Impotence And Miscarriage

Your Bio-Engineered Penis Is Almost Ready

Medical breakthrough could lead to functional artificial skin

Why is this man growing a nose on his forehead?

Lab grown burger will be the most expensive ever served

How to grow a human heart in three (relatively) easy steps

Researchers grow cyborg tissue that can sense its environment

Billionaire Peter Thiel invests in the development of 3D printed meat

Scientists engineer a cyborg jellyfish from rat cells and silicone

Researchers turn skin cells into healthy, beating heart tissue

The world’s first lab-grown hamburger could be created by August of 2012

If You Can’t Get an Organ, an Organoid Might Do

Functioning anal sphincter grown in a petri dish

Skin Made from Spiderwebs: No Longer Just a Nightmare

“Humanized” mice hybrids could save your life

A pill that could repair your heart and prevent heart attacks

Zebrafish reveal all the ingredients needed to regenerate a limb

See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

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