Cross-Posted from Singularityweblog.com:
Just last month, regenerative medicine scored another solid victory by saving a toddler’s life. Yet, disappointingly, the news came and went without much follow-on thought.
Hannah Warren, a Korean-Canadian girl who is now two years old, was born without a trachea – a condition that would have meant certain death in the past. Fortunately for Hannah, regenerative medicine techniques were able to save her life in a way that will restore health and normalcy to the cute little girl. Doctors built a trachea for Hannah by creating a ‘scaffold’ or windpipe mold out of non-absorbable nanofibers and seeding it with stem cells from her bone marrow. Because the bioengineered organ was made with her own cells, she won’t have to take anti-rejection drugs like regular transplant recipients must do.
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