LONDON — In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in a bold attempt to make body parts in the laboratory.
It’s far from the only lab in the world that is pursuing the futuristic idea of growing organs for transplant. But it was showcased Tuesday as London Mayor Boris Johnson announced a plan to attract more labs to do cutting-edge health and science research in the area.
While only a handful of patients have received the British lab-made organs so far — including tear ducts, blood vessels and windpipes — researchers hope they will soon be able to transplant more types of body parts into patients, including what would be the world’s first nose made partly from stem cells.
“It’s like making a cake,” said Alexander Seifalian at University College London, the scientist leading the effort. “We just use a different kind of oven.”
Last year, Seifalian and his team used a polymer material to mold a nose for a British man who lost his to cancer. They added a salt-and-sugar solution to the polymer to mimic the somewhat sponge-like texture of a natural nose. Stem cells were taken from the patient’s fat and grown in the lab for two weeks, then used to cover the nose scaffold. Later, the nose was implanted into the man’s forearm so that skin would grow to cover it.
Seifalian said he and his team are waiting for approval from regulatory authorities to transfer the nose onto the patient’s face but couldn’t say when that might happen.
“Scientists have to get things like noses and ears right before we can move onto something like a kidney, lungs or a liver, which is much more complicated,” said Eileen Gentleman, a stem cell expert at King’s College London, who is not involved in Seifalian’s research. “What (Seifalian) has created is the correct structure and the fact that it’s good enough for his patients to have a functional (windpipe), tear duct, etc. is pretty amazing,” she said.
Some scientists predicted certain lab-made organs will soon cease to be experimental. Seifalian hopes they will one day be available for a few hundred dollars.
“If people are not that fussy, we could manufacture different sizes of noses so the surgeon could choose a size and tailor it for patients before implanting it,” he said.
