Is it possible to clone...organs?

I was wondering if it is possible to clone organs when one is needed for transplant surgery, and there's no doner?

That's a good question. I'm looking forward to seeing what members say who have knowledge on this topic.

I saw a special YEARS ago were they atempted to grow organs... I don't know what method they used to get the right organ though. I do remember they used some sort of material shaped like the organ, for it to grow into... it would safely degrade and you'd have a good whole organ of the right proportions. Sorry I don't remember anything else.

The growing organs thing sounds interesting. Ill try to find somethng to read up on it. Thanks

Howdy all,
I would in a major pediatric facility that does a ton of transpants: Heart, Lung, Heart/lung, liver, liver bowel, kidney, viceral organs etc.

The cloning organ idea would make life so easy for all these kids. It would free them from the medication regime they have to take to keep them from rejecting.

Thats were stem cell research comes in. Its imperative that the government beigns funding this type of research. You could take a stem cell preserved from the umbilical cordof the child and grow them say a new heart in a genetically modified pig. This new hear would then be harvested and transplanted. No need for a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs as the organ would be recognized by the body.....

I saw a picture of a kidney grown from a stem cell in my last issue of "Scientific American". I couldn't find it on the web, but I found some articles.

www.newscientist.com...

news.bbc.co.uk...

I'm really hoping for a new set of lungs in a decade or so. I hope this pans out.

My feeling is that they will get this done. There is too much money to be made not to.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
I'm really hoping for a new set of lungs in a decade or so. I hope this pans out.
My feeling is that they will get this done. There is too much money to be made not to.

Cystic?

Heh, no. Smoking. I don't actually deserve new lungs and wouldn't dream of trying to get transplants ahead of those who couldn't have prevented their need for that, because I'm doing my own in by choice. It would be great if they could just grow them though.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
Heh, no. Smoking. I don't actually deserve new lungs and wouldn't dream of trying to get transplants ahead of those

I you really need them you can get them. At Stanford they transplanted a patient who was in jail for murder! (Heart). and don't get me going on David Crosby

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
I'm really hoping for a new set of lungs in a decade or so. I hope this pans out.

My feeling is that they will get this done. There is too much money to be made not to.

Hehe that got me thinking... If this kind of technology becomes mainstream, what will that mean for us? People with money could start "upgrading" their bodies like we do with our computers and cars. Well, that probably won't happen, but it was a funny thought that popped into my head.

"Yeah have you heard about those new arteries? I hear they're super fast, just gotta save up the money." Heh...

No, Faisca. It WILL happen. Look at the recent facination with plastic surgery. If the technology exists, people will put it to use.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
No, Faisca. It WILL happen. Look at the recent facination with plastic surgery. If the technology exists, people will put it to use.

Absolutly will it happen. It will really be the pervue of the ultra rich for quite a while. It could be the holy grail of people seeking longevity. Organ going bad? just clone it!

If this kicked in I'm not so sure the rich would be the only benefactor. Maybe the younger generation of them would have their very own transplant pig... but I bet you growers would just be turning out stock of animals with bloodtype "X" and "X" organs.... just waiting to be harvested. Of course this method would still mean patiants could reject... but at least there would be no more years of waiting.

If you could clone organs it will mean people will live longer also what about growing arms that putting them back on a person whom has lost their original arm or leg?

A limb is much more complex than an organ, don't think thats possible. Nerve, muscle, bone, curcilatory systems, not just a certain cell system.

Hehe that got me thinking... If this kind of technology becomes mainstream, what will that mean for us? People with money could start "upgrading" their bodies like we do with our computers and cars. Well, that probably won't happen, but it was a funny thought that popped into my head.

It should be made illegal if this technology becomes available because if people wont die there will be overpopultation, and then the goverment will be trying to make a biological weapon to kill people.

I recall a human ear was cloned and grown on the back of a mouse! And we've all heard about Dolly - the cloned sheep. And I just read that they have cloned a male mouse. So I'm actually shocked that we don't already have organ farms where vital organs with long waiting lists are grown.

While there are still problems to address, researchers indicate the technology does exist that with further development could mean cloning organs and ultimately entire human beings.

References:
Philip Cohen, Organs without Donors, New Scientist, Jul 1998, pp. 4-5.
Peter Moore, The Lancet vol, 352 August 1, 1998: 376.

"It is a transplant surgeon's dream: an endless supply of organs and tissue matched to their recipient. And it might happen, if a radical new technology exploits the nuclear transfer technique that underpins cloning.

A cow egg stripped of its own nucleus would be fused with a human cell to create an embryo that begins to grow in the test tube. The embryo would not viable in the long run, but embryonic stem cells would be taken from that embryo: crucially, these could develop into a wide range of tissues.

The techniques need further work, but according to New Scientist many of the key steps have quietly been accomplished.

Among the earliest medical pay off could be the production of nerve or heart muscle cells for transplant. But ultimately entire organs might also be created. Because these tissues and organs would be cloned from the patient's own cells, there should be little problem with immune rejection.

This could provide a desperately needed solution to the chronic shortage of donated human organs."
Heart Trasnplant Foundation

Well that's cool. But how would cloning be possible anyway? They woukd use human DNA to do what exactly?

reply to post by AD5673


Well if a loved one needs an organ, then you'd probably forget about overpopulation would'nt you?
I think organ cloning is called therapeutic cloning. Ideally, doctors would be able to clone an organ from the dna of the patient. That way there would be no compatibiliy problems regarding the said organ.