3D Human Cells Grown 138
SR_melb writes writes to tell us that Melbourn researchers have, for the first time, managed to grow three dimensional human cells. This bypasses previous achievements of only being able to create two-dimensional constructions like skin. From the article: "Professor Wayne Morrison, from Melbourne's Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery has led the breakthrough. He says it's a world first and predicts the discovery will ultimately lead to the creation of human organs, including parts of the heart, by using the patients' own stem cells. Such a scenario, says Professor Morrison, would reduce the problem of immune rejection which is often associated with organ transplants."
As overheard in the lab. (Score:5, Funny)
Intern: Professor Morrison, we've had over 800,000 similar requests for a replacement penis and hand!
Morrison: Ahhh, yes. News of our discovery must have made it to Slashdot!
Re:As overheard in the lab. (Score:2)
I don't think you meant to say what you said. However, that would dramatically change what a "hand job" is.
3D cells? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:3D cells? (Score:1)
Re:3D cells? (Score:2)
Re:3D cells? (Score:2)
Well, most of the time anyway:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=530165475
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-22978900
Re:3D cells? (Score:1)
Re:3D cells? (Score:1)
Re:3D cells? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:3D cells? (Score:2)
3 D cells? (Score:2)
Most of my stuff runs on AA cells.
Re:3D cells? (Score:2)
Re:3D cells? (Score:2)
Goodness (Score:2)
Re:Goodness (Score:1)
Re:Goodness (Score:1)
Skin is flat tissue, but has multiple layers. I suppose what they grow in labs is only the epidermis.
But what about the bladders that they've been growing in labs? Isn't that organ a combination of tissue types and more than simply 2D, i.e. muscle and the lining? See some info about it here [voanews.com]. These replacement bladders are in people right now.
Re:Goodness (Score:2)
Re:Goodness (Score:2)
Sold! (Score:5, Funny)
Great, I'll take two please.
Re:Sold! (Score:1)
Re:Sold! (Score:1, Offtopic)
*insert joke about snorting coke of a hooker's breasts*
Breasts not 2D, but... (Score:1)
There are, of course, not 2d, but Double-D.
Re:Sold! (Score:2)
Sure, of course, we could use it to cure paralized patients and cancer, but boob jobs and growing longer eye-lids would do.
Re:Sold! (Score:2)
Longer eye-lids? Is there some new fad that I don't know about?
Re:Sold! (Score:2)
Wrong. Most of us have played Tomb Raider.
The catch... (Score:5, Funny)
2D Cells (Score:2)
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
Re:2D Cells (Score:1)
an atom consists of 3 parts, forming a 3D object
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
I believe atoms have all 3 dimensions?
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
our dimensions are x y and z. and not "effective" inches.
either you have a z or you don't.
Re:2D Cells (Score:2)
title a little misleading (Score:5, Informative)
that would have conveyed the substance of the story better, without idiots being confused and dorks laughing at the idiocy of the title, of which there is certainly to be a deluge of such comments
the title "4D Human Cells Grown" or "2D Human Cells Grown"... now that would have been interesting, as the laws of physics as we know them would have been breached, nevermind the laws of biology
Re:title a little misleading (Score:3, Funny)
Re:title a little misleading (Score:3, Insightful)
If you've been growing them for over 30 years - they're 4D
Re:utilization of a growth matrix (Score:1)
Re:title a little misleading (Score:1)
I just can't wait until mixes this up with String theory. "11-dimensional cells grown!"
Which brings us to... (Score:2)
Given that the Constitution specifically states that Copyright is for a limited time, we are quickly approaching the 70 years after death as being unlimited.
You mean human cells are not 2D? (Score:1, Funny)
It's been done. (Score:2)
Re:It's been done. (Score:2)
This is hardly breaking news, if any
a good first start... (Score:2)
Re-rolling for a 20... (Score:1)
I'm imagining a Slashdot geek removing a certain "organ" and depleting their reserve of stem cells trying to grow a bigger and better one...re-rolling for a 20 style.
Not really the first.... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not really the first.... (Score:2, Informative)
thats wierd (Score:5, Funny)
I've been doing that for years.
Re:thats wierd (Score:2)
Any chance the editors could RTFA and add the "e" to the end of Melbourne?
again and again (Score:2, Insightful)
No comments until the reference will pop up.
Stem Cells Huh? (Score:1)
Re:Stem Cells Huh? (Score:1)
Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:1)
I had always assumed that immune rejection ALWAYS happened with organ transplants. Are there cases where a transplant has occured without rejection?
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:1)
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:2)
In cases where the source material is already from the recipient? Ribs reused as jaw bones, skin grafts, moving fat from stomach to breasts or bottom...
I wonder though about identical twins. Theoretically, couldn't they share organs without rejection? Of course, if one needs an organ due to a genetic disease, they probably both need it...
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:2)
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:2)
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:2)
You would be surprised. It can occur. Even people with the same genetic material can have different cell receptors. The chance of this is very small, but it has happened.
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Rejection in classic transplants only possible? (Score:2)
Correct. There are several types of rejection as well, including rejection of the transplanted organ by the host, and rejection of the HOST by the transplanted organ. They each have 3 major types - acute rejection, hyperacute rejection, and chronic rejection.
Are there cases where a transplant has occured without rejection?
As in a dead patient, or one whose immune system was depressed a little too far (who
Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:5, Insightful)
America's 20th Century industry was so obsessed with drugs that it's missing the chance to grow into stemcells. Not just from complacency, but from actually outlawing stemcell research. American medical domination of the world can be eclipsed by foreign startups without such handicaps.
The US laws against stemcell prohibit the public investments in the basic science that the medical industry requires to take risks and develop the science. We have entrepreneurs, but they're both averse to medical science and drawn to the indemnities and subsidies available to drug research instead. Abroad there is much less inhibition, which is an opportunity. So stemcell research isn't stopped worldwide, though it is slowed, and less available to the Americans who should be able to dominate it too, instead of being left behind.
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:1)
A. Stemcell research has not been outlawed.
B. There is NO guarantee that embryonic stem cells will ever cure anything.
I'm not at all against stem cell research of any kind, I just get tired of everybody acting like stem cells will provide the cure for everything. So far, not a whole lot has come of embryonic stem cell research.
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:3, Insightful)
B No one ever mentioned any guarantee.
"B" is the most interesting part of your response. My post explicitly mentioned how outlawing government funds has made the risky research less attractive for investors. And the part where you argue against "everybody acting like stem cells will provide the cure for everything" completes the picture. Not "everyone", not "provide the cure for everything". That's the kind of hyperbolic strawman that people
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:3, Informative)
This boy was going to die before his 17th birthday [cordblood.com] from sickle cell anemia.
It may not be a cure-all and it may not cure the same condition in every person, but there are many examples like the ones above of people being cured. The beauty of the ones above is that I believe they were both cured using cord blood stem cells rather than embryonic stem cells which many express concern about.
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2, Insightful)
No, what was outlawed was the use of embryonic stem cells not stemcells altogether. There are other sources of stemcells than just those from unborn babies. The fear was that by allowing the use of embryonic stem cells to b
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
The "creating a demand for a
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
A tiny little magnet can lift a big pile of iron filings, just because the magnet is highly organized. When it organizes the filings by polarizing the pile, the magnet is in complete cont
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
It's kind of how the Bolsheviks [sp?] finally took over Russia. They had a very organized army, while the opposition, the supporters of a republican (lowercase r) form of government just had some like-minded people thrown together.
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
True, but they also murdered millions of their own people. Part of the point I'm trying to make is that if the theocratic hypocrites gain any more power, we may have a culture with more faith in God, but how many people will die in senseless witch trials? How many people with opposing thought will lose their lives in the name of national security and, later, sanctification of a heathen culture? More faith in God indeed, but may God end up losing faith in us?
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
All tribalism in the name of ideology for economic gain. There is every reason to expect more, especially in America which has avoided it for centuries. And little reason to believe it won't happen. And ultimately, no reason to belie
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
That's due more to Ford's innovations (assembly line, etc) and philosophy of producing a car for the masses than any industry obsession. Also, the size and low population density of the US was a deciding factor for capitalists -- most train lines in the US weren't that profitable unless you had a monopoly and could exploit it. In addition, coal was widely available in Britain, but gasoline was not for
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
As to the parellel with the drug industry, I think it's fairly superficial, and simplifies too greatly where drug discovery has come from. 'Colonial plant medicine formulas' form a very small proportion of drugs, even of drug families. The most famous example being aspirin, which was not colonial, but from a nativ
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
Here's a link that supports your statement that most NCEs come from or are derived from natural sources [aapspharmsci.org].
Re:Foreign Investment Opportunities (Score:2)
Seeking health is by necessity an individualized process. Medicine is a "practice" and not a "science" because everyone responds differently, sometimes radically, sometimes ever so slightly, to the same treatment protocol.
The obsession with drugs came about by certain interests hijacking the medical education process (AMA, Flexner report, etc), standardizing on allopathic modalities (suppressing or treating the symptoms with drugs - tylenol for
Mod Parent Down (Score:2, Informative)
Bullshit. Stem cell research has not been outlawed, and you know it. What has been cut off is federal funding for research that involves the creation and use of new lines of embryonic stem cells. No research has been outlawed. You can still get money from Uncle Sam for research using existing embryonic stem-cell lines
Re:Mod Parent Down (Score:2)
You're the one spreading bullshit. The existing lines are contaminated, and you know it, and the U
Re:Mod Parent Down (Score:2)
Question (Score:1)
Re:Question (Score:3, Informative)
You are correct. Cancer patients are rarely organ transplant recipients. With a few exceptions, the problem with cancer is not the damage it does to the single organ it affected at the beginning. It's the cumulative effect of the metastases (the other tumors that originated from the primary), all the inflammatory gunk the body produces, and the hormonal/electrolyte imbalances that occurthat ends up killing the patien
5th Day? (Score:2)
Now In 3D!!! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Feed the cells (Score:5, Informative)
Not really. I'm not a cell biologist, but I have a doctorate in a biology related field (grin).
Blood is extremely efficient at moving huge quantities of oxygen to a tissue, and getting rid of CO2 and other unwanted byproducts, however tissue does not require such an efficient transport medium all the time. The demands of a cell in a culture where all it has to do is grow, in an ideal liquid medium that is constantly replaced with optimum levels of nutrients, are not all that much, compared to inside the body, where the same cell is made to work (by nervous or hormonal action), is constantly exposed to toxic metabolites from other cells in the area as well as disease. The type of cell that demands most oxygen is the neuron - which is always energy starved. The other tissues (heart muscle, kidney, etc) can make do with a lot less oxygen if it's at rest (the extreme oxygen dependency of the heart is due to the macroscopic design of the organ rather than the tissue itself).
The human body can exist on nothing but salt water - I've seen it happen in extreme emergency situations where a patient has massive bleeding and not enough replacement blood is available. It's eerie to watch the blood turn from red, to pale pink, to almost transparent, at the bleed site. Usually these patients do not recover so well due to the swelling this causes, rather than lack of oxygen. We are talking about extreme situations and heroic measures here.
The cell cultures should be ok provided a sterile, isotonic, oxygenated and nutrient filled liquid is pumped through it. The body is limited by the atmospheric concentration of oxygen. Even at 100% efficiency, you can't increase the pO2 of the blood beyond a certain limit. You can do that artificially with 100% oxygen though. It doesn't have to be blood at all.
It's the vessel (Score:2, Interesting)
I work in a biomedical engineering lab that develops new imaging techniques and we grow tissue phantoms
...better than one... (Score:1)
Rewrite the post? (Score:2)
Re:Rewrite the post? (Score:2)
Ahh the prophecy comes true! (Score:1)
skin is hardly 2D (Score:2, Informative)
Well thank God for THAT (Score:2)
Or perhaps what they really mean is growing cell CULTURES in 3D? Sheesh, only on slashdot...
What really matters in 3D Human cells (Score:2, Insightful)
2. tissue variation and connections - if it doesn't connect well, and has specialization on the wrong side (e.g. the inside of a tissue is frequently different from the outside - just think of skin cells at various layers
3. nerves - no nerves in a growth state means we can't knit it together
4. comparable blood vessels, veins, arteries, capilliaries - for the blood you'll be needing
5. tissue compatability -
Finally (Score:2)
This is a breakthrough? (Score:2, Interesting)
What the article doesn't say... (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't agree with the Liberal Party's politics. I don't agree with the Economic Rationalism that Costello uses to justify many of his economic decisions as Australia's 2nd most powerful politician.
But I can't help respecting this man. Imagine what the world could be like if all the filthy-rich politicians were to fund things like this
Excellent (Score:2)
I refuse to believe it! (Score:2)
Re:just an observation (Score:1)