"Lab-grown glands, eyes and brain parts"-- Mo Costandi's report on new Japanese research

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are both elements in my scientific thriller, THE LIFE AFTER LIFE CONSPIRACY. Though the book is finished, I still to keep up with the new findings in labs --- mainly (to be modest, and honest!) for the satisfaction of seeing ideas I'd predicted coming about in the real world.

In another post here recently, I picked up a Wall Street Journal report on a replacement windpipe grown from the patient's own cells, using a scaffold as a kind of framework for the cells to grow into shape. That is just one instance of tissue engineering breakthroughs using scaffolds and a patient's own cells ("pluripotent stem cells," in the jargon of regenerative medicine).

This week, Mo Costandi in his blog Neurophilosophy, which appears in the British newspaper The Guardian, reports on a different breakthrough: using pluripotent stem cells to grow replacement body parts without the use of a scaffold. That is, using 3 dimensional cultures to (among other things) ". . . to self-organize into functional brain tissue. . ."

"Growing a complete, functioning brain is unfeasible , but there is real potential in growing functional neural tissue . . . for transplantation into the human brain," Mo writes. ("Unfeasible" right now, I respond. But just wait.)

This article can be a bit technical for the layperson, but four short videos embedded in the piece make it make sense.

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Michael McGaulley
The "mother-ship" of the sites, with links to both groups of books: the speculative thrillers, and the business and career guides drawn from my work as a lawyer and management consultant.
A Remedy for Death
A speculativetechnothriller centered around growing human body parts and regenerative medicine, human immortality, the mystery of consciousness/mind-body/soul, chimeras (human-primate hybrids), and medical ethics.
The Grail Conspiracies
A speculative thriller bridging terrorism, politics, and the as-yet-untapped powers of the human mind.
Joining Miracles: Navigating the Seas of Latent Possibility
A fable exploring ways the human mind can make practical application of some of the findings of today's advanced scientific discoveries on the deeper nature of reality, particularly the overlooked potential of the mind to shape the reality that we experience. Companion book to the speculative thriller, The Grail Conspiracies.
Selling Face-to-Face
A variety of practical consultative selling tips, especially helpful for career-changers, new start-ups, and those who work and persuade face-to-face. Drawn from our range of books on persuasion and selling skills.

THE LIFE AFTER LIFE CONSPIRACY

A spiritual sci-fi thriller by Michael McGaulley

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