#biolimb

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital have grown a rat leg in a petri dish.

Their "biolimb" was the result of a two-step process. First, they took a rat arm and used a detergent to remove the soft tissue, leaving a bone and collagen scaffold. Then they took cells from a different rat and used them to seed new tissue, which eventually proliferated and filled in the rest of the arm. 

The moving pictures of American soldiers who lost limbs while serving their country come across our computer screens with some regularity. However, while we celebrate the courage of these young men and women, we should also be amazed at the technological advances that provide artificial limbs for these soldiers. What if, we could grow replacement limbs in culture? Is this science fiction? Maybe…