Bionic Organs and Regenerative Medicine

Organ failure causes a significant number of deaths around the world each year.

Almost everyone knows or has heard of someone who has experienced organ failure and waited many months or years for a compatible organ donor to be found or has died because a timely solution could not be found.

Globally there is a shortage of organs for transplantation. Only a small proportion of those waiting for an organ receive one and the body’s immune system rejects the implant without a sustained use of immunosuppressant drugs.

Whole organ engineering is still a little way off, but new technologies including advanced biomaterials and biofabrication provide hope that bioartificial organs can be successfully produced.

In recent decades, a combination of 3D bioprinting, advances in stem cell technologies, the ability to genetically modify tissues and cells; and success in decellularising and recellularising whole organs in the laboratory all point to a future where regenerative medicine will provide new, customised bionic solutions to organ failure.