00:04Could a human lung be grown in a lab, and would that ever end the organ shortage?
00:10Here's the wild part. Researchers say they've already built one, using lungs that couldn't be transplanted as is.
00:17Let's start with what organ donation really is.
00:20It's the removal of organs or tissues from someone who recently died or from a living donor so they can
00:26be used for transplantation.
00:28And right now, it's basically the only way to replace an organ that isn't working for a patient, but it
00:35depends on complicated factors like immune rejection and whether a suitable organ is available.
00:41Now, something big may be changing.
00:44Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch, UTMB, in Galveston report that they created a human lung for the
00:51first time in history.
00:52The lung was made from donated lung tissue from two children who died in traumatic circumstances.
00:59Because of the damage, their lungs weren't suitable for standard transplantation.
01:04So instead of giving up, the team used a clever two-step process.
01:09First, they took one lung and treated it like a biological scaffold, a structure made mainly of collagen and elastin.
01:17Then they seeded it with cells from the other lung.
01:20After that, they placed the scaffold into a nutrient-filled chamber so the cells could grow and develop.
01:26For weeks later, they produced the complete human lung.
01:30It wasn't identical to a natural lung.
01:33According to UTMB researcher Joan Nichols, it was a bit more pink, felt softer, and was less dense than what
01:40you'd expect in the body.
01:42This approach isn't totally out of nowhere either.
01:45The same technique worked successfully before, about four years ago, in lungs grown from rats and pigs.
01:52And for this latest human version, the researchers are clear.
01:56The lab-made lung isn't fully functional yet.
01:59The next challenge is proving it can actually exchange gas like a real lung, and be safe enough for transplant.
02:06Still, this could be a game-changer.
02:09The team suggests it may take at least 12 years of additional testing before these lab-grown lungs could be
02:15used in real transplants.
02:17So the real question is, when we can rebuild organs instead of waiting for donation, how will healthcare?
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