News that the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (yep, WFIRM) has successfully grown rabbit penises in a lab set off a media feeding frenzy.
These are fully-functioning organs. The rabbit recipients went at it like, well, rabbits.
But there is more to this story than meets the snark.
This is an important proof-of-concept test for Dr. Anthony Atala (right), the center’s director.
The concept is that cells from a reduced organ are sprayed onto a collagen matrix, then bathed with compounds that stimulate cell growth and left in kept in an environment that duplicates the temperature and chemical makeup of living tissue.
The success of the technique means Dr. Atala could also grow new noses, new ears, perhaps even new fingers that are fully compatible with, and in many cases nearly identical to, the originals. This is not a fancy “stem cell” technique but a more straightforward one with wide application.
The news comes just months after Dr. Atala formed an Alliance for Regenerative Medicine that not only includes other colleges like Stanford and Georgia Tech but corporations like Geron and Johnson & Johnson, along with venture capitalists like Kleiner Perkins.
The aim of the group is to maintain political support for research and for the technique itself, said Geron CEO Thomas Okarma in the group’s initial press release.
The apparent success of the technique may be the best advertisement of all.
Although we know what Jay Leno will say about it. “Does this mean Cher can finally become a grandmother?” Rimshot optional.
