And said organ actually, you know, works!
Surgeons replaced the damaged windpipe of Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old mother of two, with one created from stem cells grown in a laboratory at Bristol University.
Because the new windpipe was made from cells taken from Ms Castillo’s own body, using a process called “tissue engineering”, she has not needed powerful drugs to prevent her body rejecting the organ.
Avoiding the use of these drugs means she will not be at an increased risk of cancer and other diseases unlike other transplant patients – another significant advance.
Five months after the operation was carried out she is now living normally and is able to look after her children again.
So, yet again, we see that it is research using stem cells other then from embros that is creating medical breakthroughs.
