bioengineering Archives

Xenobots: can you really make living robots from stem cells?

April 22, 2021 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Can you really make living robots from stem cells called xenobots? How would this work? You take frog stem cells, supercomputers to tell you what to do with them, and you get xenobots? Well, kind of yes and no at this point. It’s a fascinating area. What are xenobots? What does the name “xenobot” bring

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Stem cells seed a new thymus, clinical hope?

December 28, 2020 / Ricki Lewis and Paul Knoepfler / 3 Comments

Imagine receiving a smidgeon of thymus gland along with a donated heart or kidney, to fool the immune system into accepting the transplant. Authors of a new study argue that might be possible, based on their new proof-of-principle experiments. The team from the Epithelial Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine lab at the Francis Crick

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Will bioengineered body parts cost an arm and a leg?

June 4, 2015 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 3 Comments

The idea that we could bioengineer new human body parts to replace old, faulty ones is exciting, and such parts could include limbs, digits, or even entire organs. Such replacements might be produced using stem cells, 3-D printers, and other rapidly evolving, cutting edge technologies. Sci-fi is becoming a reality. Remember in Star Wars when

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Ear-itating: Awesome John Oliver Invokes Vacanti Mouse While Blistering Dr. Oz

June 24, 2014 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

What is the Vacanti Mouse? Comedian John Oliver has an absolutely blistering segment (see below) on Dr. Oz in which he skewers the physician huckster. The video includes incredibly telling Oz testimony before Congress in which the celebrity doctor seems frankly pretty pathetic and cannot answer even simple questions about his selling of arguably snake oil on

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Doc grows new nose on top of head

September 29, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

How could there be a nose on top of head? We all have heard the expression “eyes on the back of one’s head”, but a nose on top of one’s head? What the heck? A Chinese doctor has apparently grown a new nose on top of a patient’s forehead. The patient had his nose damaged

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Want to 3D Print Yourself a New Organ? Key Challenges

September 12, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 8 Comments

Need a new liver, pancreas, or other vital organ, then I’ll 3D print one right up for you…that is in about 10 years. My intern Lakshmi did a great job on her guest piece last week on the promise of 3D printing in stem cell-based bioengineering including organ and tissue production. It’s an incredibly exciting area of

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Applications of 3D Printing in Stem Cells & Bioengineering

September 4, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 8 Comments

Imagine a world in which doctors send microscopic biological machines made by 3D printing—biobots—inside our bodies to heal disease and fix injuries. A few decades ago, this kind of technology was only manifesting as the fanciful gadgets of science fiction movies. For example, the 1966 movie ‘Fantastic Voyage’ featured miniaturized objects performing a range of

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Perspectives on human micro liver structures made from iPS cells

July 5, 2013 / Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

The big stem cell buzz the last day or two has been the news exploding across mainstream media outlets about laboratory-produced human liver grown from stem cells. It’s good news to be sure as it would seem we might be one important step closer to a new reality for millions of people suffering from liver disease.

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bioengineering

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