Scientists grow new bone in the body

[Caution]

Scientists grow new bone in the body

NASHVILLE, July 26 (UPI) -- Biomedical engineers have shown for the first time they can grow new bone in one part of the body and use it to repair damaged bone elsewhere in the body.

"We have shown we can grow predictable volumes of bone on demand," said V. Prasad Shastri, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University, who led the study.

Co-author Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the research has important implications, not only for engineering bone, but for engineering tissues of any kind.

"It has the potential for changing the way that tissue engineering is done in the future," said Langer.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050726-16261200-bc-us-bodybone.xml

[brainshrub]

1. We live in an age of miracles.

Amazing. I still get goose-bumbs when I remember that earlier this year I heard the winds of Titan on my computer.

[jojo54]

2. This should be good news for all the para/quadrapalegics. n/t

edit: actually, it's a start, but not a cure.

[beam me up scottie]

3. That's pretty big.

"Current approaches involve orthopedic surgeons removing small pieces of bone from a patient's rib or hip and fusing them to the broken bone. Although it works, the procedure is extremely painful and can produce serious complications.

Scientists say if the new method is confirmed in clinical studies, it will become possible to grow new bone for all types of repairs instead of removing it from existing bones."