Tissue engineers are building organs using the body’s own cells and letting the body do most of the work.
So far, only a few organs have been made and transplanted, and they are relatively simple, hollow ones — like bladders and windpipes. But scientists around the world are using similar techniques with the goal of building more complex organs. At Wake Forest University in North Carolina, for example, where the bladders were developed, researchers are working on kidneys, livers and more. Labs in China and the Netherlands are among many working on blood vessels.
(READ the story in the NY Times)