Top 10 artificial technologies ready to create a real human being

By R.C.Dohare B.E.(Mech),PGDCSc,M.E.(Env.Sc.& Eng).

One of the major subjects that have caught everyone’s attention in medical science
is the development of artificial organs. An artificial organ is a man-made organ that
is implanted in human body to replace its natural counterpart. The pace, at which,
scientists are doing experiments with the artificial body parts, somehow it seems like
we would be able to create a real human being very soon in the near future.

Here is a list of top 10 technologies that are vying to make this possible.

Artificial Wombs

Research: Dr. Hung-Ching Liu, Cornell University’s Centre for Reproductive Medicine
and Infertility

Status: Feasible, Prototypes developed successfully

You might have seen a number of children decanted in huge factories in Brave New
World, a novel by Aldous Huxley in the year 1932. You must have also seen the artificial
gestation of humans in the 1999 movie, The Matrix. Well, I am talking about the artificial
wombs. Would it be possible some day to grow babies outside the mothers’ body?

Scientists are already working on artificial wombs in which embryos can grow outside a
woman’s body. Scientists have even developed prototypes made out of cells extracted
from women’s bodies. Dr. Hung-Ching Liu of Cornell University’s Centre for
Reproductive Medicine and Infertility hopes that they would be able to develop complete
artificial wombs in the very near future.
The impending medical benefits of this technology include aiding women, who have
undergone many miscarriages due to problems with embryo implantation, the women
having hysterectomies due to uterine cancer, and the women who are not able to carry
their own child.

Although we will have to wait for some more years to see the development of a full-
fledged artificial womb, it would be definitely a breakthrough in treating the childless
couples.

Artificial gut

Research: Dr Martin Wickham, Institute of Food Research, UK.

Status: Developed successfully

Last year, in the month of November, UK scientists were reported to have built an
artificial stomach capable of simulating human digestion. This artificial gut mimics both
the physical and chemical reactions taking place during digestion.
The innovative device is made of sophisticated plastics and metals and has the potential
to survive the corrosive gut acids and enzymes. Moreover, it can be fed on real foods.
The researches are on the way to aid development of new super-nutrients by revealing
how they are broken down in the gut.

Amazingly, it’s so realistic that it can even vomit.

Artificial Heart
Research: Syncardia CardioWest, Abiomed Inc.

Status: First fully implantable artificial heart AbioCor developed

Artificial hearts date back to the mid 1960s when Dr. Paul Winchell first patented an
artificial heart. Many researches were done with the artificial hearts after that. Well, the
Syncardia CardioWest’s temporary ‘Total Artificial Heart‘(TAH t) was the very first
implantable artificial heart that received green signal from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. The TAH-t is meant for the patients with end stage biventricular failure
so as to perk up life expectancy while they are looking for a heart transplant. A 46-year-
old ex-fitness instructor, who was suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and
was in irreversible cardiogenic shock, received the first TAH-t in the beginning of 2007.

The TAH-t is a modern version of the Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart that was implanted in

patient Barney Clark in 1982.

However, the latest fully implantable artificial heart to receive clearance from Food and
Drug Administration is ‘AbioCor.’ Developed by Abiomed Inc, the two-pound AbioCor
comprises an internal thoracic unit, an internal rechargeable battery, an internal
miniaturized electronics package and an external battery pack. It has the capability to
move the blood through the lungs and to the rest of the body continuously. It no doubt
brings hope to patients who are near death from heart failure but the downsides of the
AbioCor are its large size and shorter lifespan.

Scientists are busy with their experiments and we could possible see a fully reliable
implantable artificial heart sometime in the future.

Artificial blood

Research: Many companies

Status: Oxygen therapeutics under development

The meaning of the word ‘artificial blood‘ is a bit confusing as biological blood performs
many tasks while the artificial blood is said to fulfill some of the tasks, particularly in
human beings. The increasing demand for the blood all across the globe for various
reasons account for the ever-growing need for the blood substitutes. If this is done, it will
be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the world of medical science.

Primarily, artificial blood is estranged into two main groups, the volume expanders,
which only increase blood volume and oxygen therapeutics that replace for the blood’s
natural aptitude to carry oxygen. While volume expanders are already in use in hospitals,
the oxygen therapeutics is still under clinical trials.
The current oxygen therapeutics under development are perfluorocarbon based Oygent,
hemoglobin based Hemopure, Oxyglobin, Hemolink, Polyheme, Hemospan, and
Dextran-Hemoglobin.

Lately, researchers have started sniffing the possibility of using stem cells as a means to
produce another source of transfusable blood. However, this is the one of its kind of
methods of producing red blood cells but the costs associated with the process are stocky.

Another latest research in blood substitute’s technology is being conducted by the

Dendritech. With a $750,000 grant from the US Army, researchers are thinking of using
the highly fluorinated water-soluble nano-polymer dubbed dendrimers as an alternative
oxygen carriers.

Oxycyte is another synthetic pure white compound that has the ability to carry oxygen 50
times more efficiently than our own blood. The white compound is under clinical trials.

There are numerous controversies with respect to the use of artificial blood, but it is
hoped that within the next few years, artificial blood may be widely used. It would be by
no means less than landing on Mars. Check out ‘How artificial blood works.’
Artificial blood vessels

Research: Hokkaido University

Status: Under trials for use in human beings

Well, we talked about the artificial blood but we do need artificial vessels too to carry it.
It has just been made possible by researchers from Hokkaido University. They have
developed artificial blood vessels using collagen taken from the skin of salmon. While
scientists have already developed artificial tissues from bovine (found in cow) and
porcine (found in pig) collagen but there questions were raised with respect to the likely
transmission of infectious diseases such as BSE (mad cow disease). Luckily, the usage of
salmon collagen is considered safe owing to the fact that there are no viruses known to
the date that are transmitted from salmon to humans. While the researchers will use this
in larger animals such as dogs at first, but they do hope to use the same biomaterial to
replace the damaged blood vessels in human beings.

Earlier, Chris Mason, a Medical Research Council Clinical Fellow at University College
London won a major award for devising a way of creating blood vessels for heart bypass
surgery. Eventually, the artificial blood vessels will be a reality.
Artificial bones

Research: McGill University, Montreal

Status: Under clinical trials

Scientists have been busy with experiments from a long time to develop artificial bones.
Recently, it was found that citric acid, with 1,8-octanediol (a non-toxic chemical) results
in a stretchy and strong yellow rubber that can be molded into a wide variety of shapes
and used to replace damaged body parts. The polymer when mixed with hydroxyapatite
powder gives out a very hard material that can be used to repair broken bones.
Hydroxyapatite powder is the very same stuff that makes up natural bone thereby making
for the acceptance of artificial bone without any unfavorable effects.

Now, scientists have found a new technique of growing artificial bones from a modified
version of an inkjet printer. It will be a major breakthrough in the field of bone graft
surgery, which was earlier done by using parts of bone taken from other parts of the body
or ceramic-like substitutes. The new method creates perfect facsimiles of bones that can
be used to replace the damaged bones. Professor Jake Barralet of McGill University in
Montreal, Canada said:

The “paper” in our printer is a thin bed of cement-like powder. The inkjets spray the
cement with an acid which reacts with it and goes hard. It takes only ten minutes for the
printer, which is the size of about three filing cabinets, to print a typical bone graft. The
printed graft acts as a bridge to allow the body to replace the damaged section with new
bone.
The technology is no doubt promising but its will have to go under a number of clinical
trials before being used commercially.

Artificial Skin

Research: MIT, Cambridge-based biotechnology firm Intercytex, Cincinnati

Status: Researches on the way for generating a real skin

Back in 19996, an artificial skin developed at MIT was given FDA approval to be used
on patients with severe burns who have lost their dermis. The method involved
chemically bonding collagen derived from animal tendons with glycosaminoglycan
(GAG) molecules from animal cartilage to develop a model of the extracellular matrix
that offers the basis for a new dermis. In the year 2001, a self-repairing plastic “skin” was
developed and tested by US scientists. Very much like the real skin, it was able to bleed
and heal itself, thereby making breakthrough in vital materials used in surgical implants.
Another breakthrough achievement in artificial skin is the re-generation of the skin.
Scientists at Cambridge-based biotechnology firm Intercytex have discovered a new
miraculous technique to fight ageing. They have succeeded in finding a way to grow
these cells dubbed fibroblasts in the lab only. These fibroblasts, which generate a protein
called collagen, add to the strength and elasticity of the skin but as we age, the count of
these cells keeps on declining. Therefore, when these cells will be injected into the
wrinkles, it will lead to the regeneration of the collagen, encouraging the skin to
regenerate again. Re-generating the human skin in itself is a great achievement.

.
Recently, scientists in Cincinnati have developed bacteria-resistant skin cells in the lab
and are now trying them on animals. They anticipate creating a type of artificial skin that
can sweat, tan, and fight off infection, ultimately generating a real skin.

Artificial Retina

Research: Mark Humayun, University of Southern California.

Status: Developed successfully, waiting for commercialization

U.S. Researchers have urbanized a bionic eye that could restore sight to the blind. The
researchers say that the new device dubbed Argus has also been given green signal by the
American regulators to test the device on 50-75 patients.

The Argus II artificial retina is expected to cure people suffering from two most common
forms of blindness caused by diseases such as Macular Degeneration or Retinitis
Pigmentosa. Macular Degeneration is a condition in which the light sensing cells in the
macula malfunction and, over time, complete stop functioning. The second condition is
Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is an advanced form of night blindness or tunnel vision.
Many patients suffering from this disease do not become completely blind until their 40s
or 50s. Well, the final aim of the researchers is to make people recognize faces and also
tune electrodes to respond to light of different wavelengths and also allow the patients to
see genuine color.

If everything goes as per plans, then the implant will be commercially available in Q1 of
2009 for about £15,000.
Artificial limbs

Research: U.S. scientists

Status: In the trials

If salamanders or tadpoles can re-generate their limbs, why can’t human beings
regenerate a lost limb too? In fact, they can. A new research led by scientists has put forth
a ray of hope for the amputees since they are anticipating a new technology that could
help full limb generation. They have fruitfully grown extra arms on salamanders with the
help of an extract of pig bladder. Well, the research is related with re-growing a whole
finger but growing enough of a finger that could be less than an inch. But, if the results
are optimistic, it could prove to be a stepping stone for further research to re-grow the
whole fingers.

This is really a shot in the dark but if we look deeper into the future, the findings might
open the doors for replacement of damaged heart parts and spinal cord.

Artificial body parts from Stem cells

Research: Sir Magdi Yacoub, Harefield hospital, UK

Status: Prototypes developed, further research on the way

When a team of British scientists devised a way to grow a heart valve from a patient’s
own stem cells lately, it raised the hopes of growing a whole heart within ten years from
the stem cells. Moreover, these are also considered better than the artificial organs as the
artificial ones are more prone to rejection and replacement.

If it really becomes possible to grow a heart, we could even grow lungs or a brain. You
might replace your normal heart with a stronger one in the future hopefully. Anyway, this
is very preliminary work and the direct translation to human is still far away in the future.

Another limitation with stem cell research is the ever-present question of embryo ethics
but we can envisage that what medical breakthroughs we could achieve if scientists were
not so constrained by federal regulations.

I believe, and rather it’s true, that if scientists are able to regenerate the largest
organ of our body i.e. skin, the day is not too far when we will be witnessing
regeneration of each and every human organ and hence meet our true artificial
counterparts.
Ref: - Top 10 Artificial Technologies Ready To Create A Real Human Being - Science
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