October 16th, 2005
Not Just Better, But Faster Too
The BBC reports on a clever direction of research in tissue engineering: "UK scientists say they can cut the time it takes to grow new tissue from days to minutes. ... The next stage is to test whether this method could help repair injured tissues. Ultimately, the goal is to design a rapid, inexpensive, automatic process for creating strong tissues which could supply hospital surgical units with a tool kit of spare parts for reconstructive surgery. The speed and control it offers means that our method could one day be used to produce implant tissue at the bedside or in the operating theatre." It's only a first demonstration on one specific tissue type, but it's still impressive.