Which New Technology Will Win the Race to Repair and Replace Our Organs?
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An extraordinary
competition is underway—one that could be more impactful to the human
species than any other technological rivalry to come before it. Soon,
the radical concept of substantially improving or outright replacing our
organs is going to be commonplace.
Globally, organ failure is a leading cause of death.
But transplantable organs are in far too short of a supply around the
world to help many in need—even former Vice President Dick Cheney had to
wait 20 months to get his new heart.
Various methodologies, technologies, and even
spiritual and philosophical preferences are dividing up this human
upgrade quest. Companies are launching into the field, hoping to create
the dominant longevity tech that people in the near future will use to
live to 150 and beyond. Many futurists believe each of our major body
parts will likely one day be replaced or significantly modified by
extreme science and technology.
Recently,
I wrote about the growing use of artificial hearts and optimistically
predicted in 10 years robotic hearts may be equal or better than human
hearts. On September 5th, a revolutionary new robotic heart—the Carmat
heart—was fitted into a patient in France. According to the AFP,
French Health Minister Mariso Touraine said, “This intervention
confirms that heart transplant procedures are entering a new era.”
While researching artificial hearts, however, I was
surprised to learn that healing damaged organs with stem cells or
growing new organs outright may end up beating the creation of
artificial organs to the marketplace.
Right away, I realized one of the great races of the 21st century might already be underway.
The technological rivalries of the 20th century have
long fascinated people. The evolution of the transportation industry:
cars vs. trains vs. airplanes. Or what about Bill Gates’ infamous
tactics against Apple and IBM to establish Microsoft Windows as the
dominant operating system in the world?
The healthcare industry has rarely had such a
publicized competition, as most innovation was isolated to its own
specific causes and needs. But the modern world of invention is now more
connected than ever.
Hardly any major new science or tech emerges without
WiFi capabilities, or microchip processors, or something synthetic. For
example, robotic limbs are connecting to the nervous system. Chip
implants can release hormones in the body. And exoskeletons are helping
the disabled walk.
The synergies of this interconnected world are
stronger than ever. Coders, engineers, and biologists often work hand in
hand, all in the same lab.
“There’s no longer this big divide between medicine
and technology,” says Gray Scott, a futurist and co-executive producer
of upcoming documentary The Future of Work and Death. “We are
increasingly becoming cyborg-like beings. We are becoming literally what
we create. Biology, physics, and technology are evolving towards
one-and-the-same-thing.”
So which approaches are worth watching in the race
to repair and replace our organs? While there is no single dominant
method yet, I’m keeping an eye on three technologies: robotics, stem
cells, and 3D-printed organs.
Diehard robotics fans believe the future lies
entirely in becoming machines. Indeed, I agree that the long-term future
will be dominated by robotics and then later by mind uploading, where
no biological organs are used at all.
But not everyone will sign up for such radical technology in their lives.
Some people, for spiritual or philosophical reasons
and preferences, may not want such extreme transformation, especially in
the near term, while it takes society time to adjust to the strange but
inevitable transhumanist age.
In the next five years, those people may be able to
have it all. New stem cell technology will likely outpace the creation
of robotic body parts for human use.
In the UK, a major study of 3,000 patients is
underway to determine if injecting stem cells into heart attack-damaged
hearts will speed recovery and lengthen lives. Early results are
positive, giving experts hope that injected stem cells (taken from
patients’ hips in the UK study) might offer a simple solution to healing
damaged organs in the body.
In another independent study, damaged hearts in monkeys were given stem cell injections that also showed significant improved organ usage after the treatment. Also, doctors in Japan
are beginning to test using induced pluripotent stem cells to fight
macular degeneration. Induced pluripotent stem cells are produced from
adult cells, unlike embryonic stem cells.
Might we 3D print whole organs in the future?
More fascinating is the possibility of growing or
even 3D printing organs (or bioprinting as it’s called) in the lab. For
years now, scientists have engineered very minor parts of the body in
laboratories, such as organ tissue. But now they have devised methods
and devices that can create more complex cellular structures. For
example, CNN reports that “last year a 2-year-old girl in Illinois, born
without a trachea, received a windpipe built with her own stem
cells.” The trachea was first constructed with plastic fibers and then stem cells were later meshed with it to create the respiratory organ.
One company, Organovo,
a California start-up, has also had success in 3D printing tiny strips
of human liver. These may be used to test new drugs. But one day they
hope to produce a fully functioning liver for commercial purposes. And a
team from the University of Louisville in Kentucky has also had some
success printing human heart valves and small veins earlier this year, according to AP.
If this all sounds a bit far-fetched, it’s because
it is so outside our realm of experience. Many people’s immediate
reaction to such radical technology is fear. However, experts think such
tech and its acceptance in the future will be determined more by need
than anything else.
People tend to cling onto their preferences until
their health significantly deteriorates. In a life and death medical
situation, most people opt to go with what will save their life and
enable them to be healthy again.
Companies creating radical new medical tech, such as
entire synthetic organs, are profoundly aware of this. They hope to
sidestep some controversy by focusing on the human aspects of their
innovations—such as how artificial organs might grant more time with
grandchildren and loved ones—and not whether the organ was grown,
printed, or created in a factory.
At the end of the day, for most people, being
healthy, productive, and having the ability to spend time with loved
ones is what remains most important. In this way, no matter what
technology or field of science wins the competition to build the best
organs—flesh, machine, or a mixture of both—we are all winners.http://singularityhub.com/2014/11/02/which-new-technology-will-win-the-race-to-repair-and-replace-our-organs/
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