Is it possible to clone...organs?

I've thought about this all my life. Its only a matter of time. I think it would also apply to limbs. The neurosurgery aspect is being improved upon all the time. If done in time, fingers, hands and a few private parts have been put back on. But another solution would be a biorobotic limb, that looks the same, and incorporates the best of both.

[edit on 23-8-2008 by mystiq]

naw nono , the pleebs dont get this stuff.

I swear just read oryx and crake by margaret attwood if you want to know how the future is going to be.

This is actually a really exciting and active field of research. I believe that only one organ can be successfully cloned at present - skin - but cloned skin grafts are in fact used in treatment of burns and non-healing wounds.

One human organ, skin, is already grown in the laboratory. Healthy skin cells taken from a patient who has suffered severe burns can be grown to provide a self-compatible skin graft – this means that the risk of rejection by the patient's immune system is reduced to virtually zero.

Source

I recall seeing a video last year also of lab-grown cardiac muscle that responded to electical stimulation the way cardiac muscle in the body does. But a petri dish of cardiac muscle tissue is a very long way from a replacement heart.

I don't know about the word "clone" but I do know that Stem Cell research might accomplish this feat. Since embryonic stem cells can become almost any type of cell in the body (correct me if I'm wrong) there might be a possibility of regrowing a organ with this method.

Perhaps the most important potential application of human stem cells is the generation of cells and tissues that could be used for cell-based therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace ailing or destroyed tissue, but the need for transplantable tissues and organs far outweighs the available supply. Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

stemcells.nih.gov...

Too bad the government does not want to fund this type of thing...I think that if they found a way to this the AMA will lose billions.