Artificial Kidney Made of Nanofilters and Living Cells to Replace Dialysis

[zorgon]

Artificial Kidney Made of Nanofilters and Living Cells to Replace Dialysis

At Vanderbilt University scientists are building an artificial kidney that they envision will one day will be a standard of care over dialysis. The device consists of a silicon nanotechnology filter chip and embedded living kidney cells that would work together to mimic the functionality of a healthy kidney. The end result is expected to be about the size of a natural kidney, small enough to be implantable and powered by the body's own blood flow.

The filter component has tiny pores that can be individually shaped to perform a specific task. These filters would sit in a series, each one performing a different filtration step. Between the filter slices there would be living kidney cells that perform tasks that the man made components are not very good at, including reabsorption of nutrients and getting rid of accumulated waste.

Here's video with Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Dr. William Fissell, the lead scientist on the research:

http://www.medgadget.com/2016/02/artificial-kidney-made-of-nanofilters-and-living-cells-to-replace-dialysis.html

[funbox]

soon there will be no need for the flesh , kinda reminded me off the 3d printer shock horror storey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35581454

Custom-made, living body parts have been 3D-printed in a significant advance for regenerative medicine, say scientists.

The sections of bone, muscle and cartilage all functioned normally when implanted into animals.

The breakthrough, published in Nature Biotechnology, raises the hope of using living tissues to repair the body.

Experts described the technology, developed in the US, as a "goose that really does lay golden eggs".

The idea of placing individual human cells in a precise pattern to replace a damaged jaw, missing ear or scarred heart muscle holds much promise.




But the field has been limited by the huge challenge of keeping the cells alive - they become starved of oxygen and nutrients in tissues thicker than 0.2 millimetres.

which also reminds me of the xfiles seasons finale

funbox