• A 10-year old boy has successfully undergone an operation to transplant a windpipe using his own stem cells, potentially heralding a revolution in transplant surgery
• "milestone moment" in the development of techniques that could enable people to grow damaged or transplanted organs inside their own bodies
• The operation was the first to use stem cells with the scaffold inside the body
• It was also the first entire windpipe transplant to be carried out on a child and the first to involve the entire length of the trachea
•Professor Martin Birchall, the head of translational regenerative medicine at University College London, said: "It is the first time a child has received stem cell organ treatment, and it's the longest airway that has ever been replaced
•"We need to conduct more clinical trials to demonstrate that this concept works. We'd like to move to other organs as well, particularly the larynx and oesophagus. We need to think about how to make regenerative medicine a part of healthcare”
•Professor Martin Elliott, who led the surgery, said the technique was a breakthrough because once the scaffold was ready it could be carried out in a matter of hours.
Reflection:
My biology class prepared me for this article because I had a clear understanding of how stem cells could be used and their purpose once they have been transformed. When the cells are renamed, they gain new properties which allow the surgery to happen.
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