Use stem cells to grow a new organ?

[B_quietguy]

Let's say medical science gives us the ability to create or repair organs using stem cells. Scientists have already figured out how to take normal cells from an adult and coax them into becoming like stem cells from an embryo. No need to harvest stem cells from human embryos anymore. With more research, we might learn how to make those stem cells grow new organs. Since the organs would be a perfect match for the adult who supplied the stem cells, there is no chance of rejection.

This would be great for people with damaged livers. Just make a new liver or augment the existing one.

Pancreatic cancer is no longer a death sentence for some people. Instead of waiting to die 6 months, you can get a new pancreas made just for you in 6 weeks.

Got a damaged heart from a heart attack? No problem. We'll take a few cells of yours and grow a new heart.

Was your penis or testicles damaged or destroyed in an accident? Born with a major defect? Lose your penis due to penile cancer? A doctor could just take a few cells from the man, grow new genitals with them, and attach them to the body.

I suspect almost every man would want to replace or repair so personal an organ. But let's consider a what-if scenario ...

What if you could coax those stem cells to grow a penis to any size or shape, would you replace your existing organ with a new one even if your current penis is already healthy?

You may think that one is fun, but want to double your pleasure. Would you get a second one and keep the first?

 

[trentster]

So basically this is another "What size penis would you like?" thread, but with an interesting, if somewhat implausible, twist. That being said, I would like to replace my testicles, and as for the penis, somewhere around 10x7 would be nice.

 

[plumbr]

I don't think this is possible without nature's backlash on mankind. I wouldn't want to mess with nature! Leave them alone.

 

[amygdala]

Well, Mr. Garrison is back to being a man on South Park, thanks to the scientists who grew him a new penis on the back of a mouse.

Growing new organs using a patient's own stem cells is now a reality - not a perfected one, but a reality nonetheless. See, e.g.:

Woman given windpipe created in laboratory - CNN.com).

In the next 10 years or so, organ transplantation will be entirely different than it is today - instead of relying on donors, patients will have new organs grown for them using their own stem cells. Within the next 20-25 years or so, I figure that this will be a commercial enterprise not entirely unlike what the OP has described - though I do think that it'll spark a whole ethical debate within the medical community - so good luck finding a doctor that will be willing to give you a second penis. Oh, they'll exist - just as there are a few "doctors" who are willing to perform castrations on people without the extensive psychological screening that usually accompanies sex reassignment surgery - but they're not exactly the cream of the crop.

Bottom line: don't hold your breath waiting for that fully-functional second dick!

 

[B_quietguy]

Bottom line: don't hold your breath waiting for that fully-functional second dick!

Ah, but once it does become a reality, I will have one circumcised cock, and one uncircumcised cock. An unnatural natural cock. :tongue:

 

[Qua]

Scientists have already figured out how to take normal cells from an adult and coax them into becoming like stem cells from an embryo. No need to harvest stem cells from human embryos anymore.

Except that procedures and tissues involving embryonic cells (tissue not taken from a legally living person) are patentable and licensable.

Seriously. Embryonic stem cell research is nothing more than a money play to get around IP laws (since they can't patent tissues derived from a living person's genetic code). As you state, they are redundant given the advances in adult stem cell differentiation.

I'll say it again: embryonic stem cell research is only an issue because medical firms seek to profit from it (and want to forward the R&D costs on to you, the taxpayer). This has nothing to do with partisan politics on my part. It is a scam.

The more people kept in the dark, voting for federal funding for "miracle" medicine, the better. You're not voting for any miracle. The miracle potential is already available through other avenues. You're voting to pay to give pharmy companies a goldmine, one based around massive licensing fees for your miracle surgery and replacement parts. Ever seen a news story on this? I'm not surprised.