Scientists grow new organs on scaffolding

The "scaffolding" for replacement ears, noses and other body parts sit on a bench in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

The university is experimenting with various ways to create replacement organs for human implantation, from altering animal parts to building them from scratch with a patient's own cells. Growing lungs and other organs for transplant may still be in the future, but scientists are working toward that goal with their latest research.

A computer displays an image of the "scaffolding" for a human ear being created by a nearby printer in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

Researcher Abritee Dhal holds a test tube containing pieces of "decelluralized" piglet liver in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

The university is experimenting with various ways to create replacement organs for human implantation, from altering animal parts to building them from scratch with a patient's own cells.

Then, says Dr. Harald Ott of Massachusetts General Hospital, "we can regenerate an organ that will not be rejected (and can be) grown on demand and transplanted surgically, similar to a donor organ."

A 3D printer creates the scaffolding for a human ear in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

Angela Irizarry, 5, in her home in Lewisburg, Pa., May 23, 2013.

Angela was born with a heart that had only one functional pumping chamber, a potentially lethal condition that leaves the body short of oxygen.

During a 12-hour procedure, doctors took bone marrow from Angela and extracted certain cells, seeded them onto a 5-inch-long biodegradable tube, incubated them for two hours, and then implanted the graft into Angela to grow into a blood vessel.

Claudia Irizarry, left, plays with her daughter Angela at their home in Lewisburg, Pa., May 23, 2013.

Two years ago, Angela needed a crucial blood vessel. Researchers built her one in a laboratory, using cells from her own bone marrow. Today the 5-year-old sings, dances and dreams of becoming a firefighter -- and a doctor.

Pig kidneys get cleansed of their porcine cells in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

"I believe the future is ... a pig matrix covered with your own cells," says Doris Taylor of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. She reported creating a rudimentary beating rat heart in 2008 with the cell-replacement technique and is now applying it to a variety of organs.

The "scaffolding" for a human ear emerges inside a 3D printer in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

The pioneering lab at Wake Forest is also using a 3D printer to make miniature prototype kidneys, some as small as a half dollar, and other structures for research.

The "scaffolding" for a replacement nose in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

Solid internal organs like livers, hearts and kidneys are far more complex to make than structures like ears and noses.

Researcher Abritee Dhal holds a "decelluralized" liver from a four-day-old piglet in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

Researcher Young-Joon Seol watches as a 3D printer creates the scaffold for a human ear in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

Dr. Anthony Atala holds the "scaffolding" for a human kidney created by a 3D printer in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 8, 2013.

There are plenty of challenges with this organ-building approach, including getting the right cells to build the organ. Scientists are exploring genetic reprogramming so that, say, blood or skin cells could be turned into appropriate cells for organ-growing.