Using mouse brains for research is standard practice in most countries, but there are some flaws with that practice. Most notable, not surprisingly, is the fact that mouse brains are just too different from human brains to be of use when researchers need very detailed information. Austrian researcher Juergen Knoblich decided that he should have better tools to work with, so he set out to do what other scientists have only been able to dream about: he grew miniature human brains in his lab.

Knoblich and his colleagues used adult stem cells that they programmed to behave like embryonic stem cells, turning them into induced pluripotent stem cells. They concocted a potion of brain-developing nutrients and fed it to the cells. A few weeks later, tiny brain-like “organoids” had formed. The little “brains” are no more than three to four millimeters across and display structures similar to parts of an actual human brain.

The practice of experimenting on human brain tissue may sound a little ethically sketchy, but these  Petri dish brains will never develop consciousness. Recreating the incredible complexity of a functioning human brain is something that science still hasn’t been able to do. But if the researchers could figure out how to make slightly more complex “brains,” they may be able to give some insight into why some fetal brains don’t develop properly and why others develop conditions like schizophrenia. Rest assured, however, that even these brilliant researchers are light-years away from being able to produce a functional, feeling, sentient brain.

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In 2009, a company called Organovo came up with what, at the time, sounded like an insane goal: they wanted to make machines that could print human organs. The printed organs could then be used as ransplants so that patients would no longer have to wait for donors. Their amazing dream of creating human organs with machines has finally come true – in a way. The company announced that they have successfully created three miniature bioprinted human livers.

The livers, of course, are not ready to be stuck into a person just yet. These little organs are a mere four millimeters across and just half a millimeter deep, but they can be used for testing in a way that no artificial liver ever has. They perform most of the functions of biologically-produced livers and can stay alive and viable for up to five days. In contrast, the liver tissues currently used for testing and research only stay alive for about two days and can’t perform nearly as many functions.

These tiny livers are a huge step forward in research. Now diseases can be intentionally introduced to the liver cells and medications administered in real time. Researchers can actually see what would happen to a real liver were these types of events to take place inside a human body. Organovo isn’t giving up on their ultimate goal just yet, though: they still hope to create full-size livers that can be transplanted into humans who need them.

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Lab-grown body parts are plentiful in science fiction, but they haven’t yet made it into the everyday practices of real-life surgeons. A groundbreaking surgery in Sweden might change that after a patient received a transplanted trachea that was grown from his very own stem cells. In an incredible cooperation between surgeons at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden and University College in London, a man whose own windpipe was ruined by cancer was the recipient of the first donor-less transplant in June 2011.

The surgeons started off by creating 3-D scans of the patient’s windpipe. Researchers at the University College in London then created a glass scaffold that was an exact replica of the original windpipe. The scaffold was soaked in the patient’s own stem cells from his bone marrow, which quickly took hold and created a brand new trachea in just two days. Thanks to the fact that the trachea was made from his own stem cells and did not come from a donor, there was no chance of rejection by his body and no need for the typical anti-rejection drugs needed by other transplant recipients. The best news to come out of this milestone is that people who desperately need organ transplants may not have to wait for a suitable donor in the future; this technology could be used to grow almost anything they need in a lab within just a few days.

The post Organs Made to Order: First Lab-Grown Trachea Transplant first appeared on Gajitz.