You've heard of 3-D-printed iPhone cases. But we may not be too far from seeing 3-D-printed human organs, writes David Mattin.
It has been almost 60 years since Dr Joseph E Murray successfully performed the first human organ transplant. In December 1954, Murray transplanted a kidney from the 23-year-old Ronald Herrick to his identical twin, Richard, who was dying of chronic nephritis. The transplant extended Richard's life by eight years.
Murray - who later won the Nobel Prize - died in November. But in the intervening years, he'd watched his pioneering work on organ transplant transform the medical sciences, offering hope to thousands with previously untreatable illnesses. Now, new technologies may soon push organ transplant forward in ways Murray, surely, never dreamt about.
This new technology is being called biofabrication and its ultimate aim is the 3-D printing of entire human organs. Traditional 3-D printing is a machine process in which an ultra-fine nozzle extrudes particles - usually of plastic or metal - and micro-layer by micro-layer creates a 3-D object. Biofabrication adopts this process but uses living cells rather than plastic or metal as its building blocks.
Biofabrication scientists have already 3-D-printed human blood vessels using stem cells first cultured in a lab to grow into blood vessel cells and loaded them into a 3-D bioprinter. Because the stem cells are taken from the patient who will receive the blood vessels, it's hoped that rejection of the new vessels will be unlikely. Now scientists plan to put the blood vessels through human clinical trials to prove that it is functional and able to grow, paving the way to a future in which damaged blood vessels can be treated with 3-D-printed replacements.
But this is just the start of a revolution that scientists hope will one day see the ultimate in personalised medicine: bespoke organ printing.
The San-Diego-based medical firm Organovo (
www.organovo.com
), credited with creating the world's first commercially viable organ printers in 2010, has partnered with the design software maker Autodesk to further its research.
And now, a team of scientists led by Wenmiao Shu at Herriot-Watt University in Scotland have taken a crucial step forward by creating a 3-D bioprinter delicate enough to print human stem cells in an ordered pattern. Those cells can be programmed to turn into any kind of cell in the human body, so the ability to print with them takes us closer to entire, functional 3-D-printed organs. In the meantime, there's a more immediate benefit: Shu and his team plan to print 3-D liver tissue to use in drug trials. If the technique is extended to other kinds of tissue, too - heart, lung, bone, etc - the need for non-human subjects on which to test new medicines may be eliminated.
We're tantalisingly close to a revolutionary new medical technology. Scientists at Organovo estimate that we are just 10 years away from functional, usable 3-D-printed organs, meaning that the first person to be given a 3-D-printed heart walks among us now (and, in fact, is probably already middle-aged). Once that moment arrives, the terrible calculus that is a part of current organ donation - which sees a large pool of patients in dire circumstances ranked against one another in competition for a small number of organs - will be consigned to history. Stand by for the age of organs on demand.
David Mattin is lead strategist at
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The specs: 2018 Audi RS5
Price, base: Dh359,200
Engine: 2.9L twin-turbo V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 450hp at 5,700rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 1,900rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
THE DETAILS
Deadpool 2
Dir: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Justin Dennison, Zazie Beetz
Four stars
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)
MacBook Air
$1,199
Mac Mini
$799
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
