4 ms·

I'm pleased to hear of Dr. Atala's efforts. My mind flits immediately to the question of why aren't organ donor lists obsolete. Pensises and vaginas are complex

I'm pleased to hear of Dr. Atala's efforts. My mind flits immediately to the question of why aren't organ donor lists obsolete. Pensises and vaginas are complex organs so what about livers and kidneys? To have a complete set of duplicate organs on standby in case of medical emergency. Why pay so much for health insurance when you could swap out organs. Do you believe that in ten years, or twenty, that such things will be available to the public? I don't want to be cynical but innovative practices have come and gone without sticking before now. There was even head transplants with dogs or monkeys a few decades ago but nothing came of it.

zimpenfish 10y ago
From what I could glean from those articles (and some others I found), the main blocker to things like livers and kidneys are a) the initial complexity, b) the fairly life critical nature of them, which leads to c) the FDA approval process being somewhat strict. 10 years? No, probably not - it would take at least that long before human trials, I suspect. 20 years? Maybe, depending on the human trials. But I'd expect it to be niche and expensive - not something the NHS/Obamacare/WhateverPublicHealth would be paying for (except perhaps in extreme cases?)
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Transplants are niche and expensive already. If your artificial kidney is medically reliable and solves rejection problems, every insurance will pay for them instead of transplants. Looking around a bit, kidneys cost more than $50,000 up front, with the possibility of $30,000 a year in antirejection drugs. Even just the $50,000 seems like something that a scientifically repeatable production process should be able to compete with (there is substantial demand so quite some opportunity for cost savings by scaling up).
- internaut 10y ago
  That is what I thought. The hypothetical promise of biotech is terrific. The actual expectations we have are sadly diminished. I only realized this myself when I was talking to my G.P, who is well known as one of the best doctors in the country, I asked him whether he wanted my DNA profile, or whether collecting some genetic information would be helpful. He said no. He said that (apart from special cases) that in comparison to having medical records on my parents/grandparents plus a full medical history on myself, the genetic profiles are worthless. The hospitals already have a torrent of information they're struggling to organize. At first I was taken aback at what he said. The more I thought about it the more sense it made to me because obviously your parents and grandparents are likely to inhabit a similar environment to yourself. That must constrain the range of gene expression. We need to know what actually effects us, not a suggestion box, that might hinder more than help! I still hold out hope for a more scientific way forward but Freeman Dyson's future seems very distant. Honestly the Japanese intelligent toilets with stool/urine analysis might have a bigger impact on preventive medicine than the Human Genome Project.
pazimzadeh 10y ago
Everything you mentioned is literally under way. Genetically engineered humanized pigs are being studied for transplants, but 3D printed organs might beat them to the punch. Plants, insects, fungi, bacteria, are all being engineered every which way. The problem is not our ability to engineer life, but knowing what to do with this awesome power. CRISPR was only adapted to human cells two years ago. What did you expect to see in two years?

zimpenfish 10y ago

From what I could glean from those articles (and some others I found), the main blocker to things like livers and kidneys are a) the initial complexity, b) the fairly life critical nature of them, which leads to c) the FDA approval process being somewhat strict. 10 years? No, probably not - it would take at least that long before human trials, I suspect. 20 years? Maybe, depending on the human trials. But I'd expect it to be niche and expensive - not something the NHS/Obamacare/WhateverPublicHealth would be paying for (except perhaps in extreme cases?)

maxerickson 10y ago
Transplants are niche and expensive already. If your artificial kidney is medically reliable and solves rejection problems, every insurance will pay for them instead of transplants. Looking around a bit, kidneys cost more than $50,000 up front, with the possibility of $30,000 a year in antirejection drugs. Even just the $50,000 seems like something that a scientifically repeatable production process should be able to compete with (there is substantial demand so quite some opportunity for cost savings by scaling up).
internaut 10y ago
That is what I thought. The hypothetical promise of biotech is terrific. The actual expectations we have are sadly diminished. I only realized this myself when I was talking to my G.P, who is well known as one of the best doctors in the country, I asked him whether he wanted my DNA profile, or whether collecting some genetic information would be helpful. He said no. He said that (apart from special cases) that in comparison to having medical records on my parents/grandparents plus a full medical history on myself, the genetic profiles are worthless. The hospitals already have a torrent of information they're struggling to organize. At first I was taken aback at what he said. The more I thought about it the more sense it made to me because obviously your parents and grandparents are likely to inhabit a similar environment to yourself. That must constrain the range of gene expression. We need to know what actually effects us, not a suggestion box, that might hinder more than help! I still hold out hope for a more scientific way forward but Freeman Dyson's future seems very distant. Honestly the Japanese intelligent toilets with stool/urine analysis might have a bigger impact on preventive medicine than the Human Genome Project.

pazimzadeh 10y ago

Everything you mentioned is literally under way. Genetically engineered humanized pigs are being studied for transplants, but 3D printed organs might beat them to the punch. Plants, insects, fungi, bacteria, are all being engineered every which way. The problem is not our ability to engineer life, but knowing what to do with this awesome power. CRISPR was only adapted to human cells two years ago. What did you expect to see in two years?