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Bioengineered kidney produces urine
Thursday 18th April 2013
Scientists in America have taken the first step towards growing a functioning kidney. An adult rat kidney was stripped of its cells to leave a honeycomb like scaffold, and then rebuilt with newborn rat cells in the lab. This resulted in a partially working kidney which could filter blood and produce urine both in the lab and also when it was re-implanted back into a rat. Its success has opened up the possibility of applying similar techniques to other tissues/organs. This could potentially replace failing human organs without the need for donors by using decellurised animal tissues which would not be rejected by the body.
Habiba Yasmin (2nd Year Medical Engineer)