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Growing plants can be tricky enough, but growing bones seems altogether impossible. Yet that’s exactly what scientists at Columbia University ^[4] recently accomplished. A group led by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic recently used stem cells and liposuctioned fat to grow — yes, grow – actual human bones ^[5]. Once the process is perfected, it could eliminate the need for titanium bone replacements and painful bone grafts.

To create a particular bone, researchers use digital images to direct a machine to carve a bone replica, or scaffold. Scientists place the scaffold in a bioreactor and add in human cells from bone marrow or liposuctioned fat. Adding in oxygen, growth hormones, sugar and nutrients allow the cells to flourish, eventually growing into bone ^[5]. By using this process, scientists can create an exact copy of any bone in the human body.

The lab breakthrough is a huge step forward for bone-replacement procedures. Being able to grow any bone from actual human tissue ^[5] could eliminate the need for bone grafts ^[6], a painful procedure that requires harvesting bone samples from other parts of the body. Growing human bones could also replace titanium bone implants ^[7], which aren’t as biocompatible as human tissue.

Researchers say they’ll test the grown bones ^[5]in animals and a few humans, and the process may be used in hospitals within the next decade.

+ Columbia University ^[4]

Via Popular Science ^[5]