On Tissue Engineering
The Sydney Morning Herald examines the present state and near future of tissue engineering: "The holy grail for tissue engineers [is] to develop 'smart' scaffolds for each particular organ that could be placed into the appropriate body cavity so they recruit the right cells to build up the desired tissue and develop a blood supply. ... Every surgeon would like to have scaffolds, sitting on a shelf in their packages, that are designed for specific uses, for example, breast regeneration ... Growing complex organs such as the kidney - with more than 25 different types of cells arranged in an intricate structure - this way will be very difficult. But it may be possible within a few years to grow a particular component of the organ that a patient needs."
Link: http://smh.com.au/news/science/own-grown-the-way-to-go/2006/04/12/1144521401102.html?page=fullpage