Synthetic liver patented

In a further step blurring the line between biological machines and man-made machines, R.I.-based MultiCell Technologies Inc. has been granted a U.S. patent on its Sybiol synthetic bio-liver device. Apparently the device incorporates an immortalized liver cell line into an implantable device.

Original Source

A business unit of Warwick, R.I.-based MultiCell Technologies Inc. has been granted a U.S. patent on its Sybiol synthetic bio-liver device. The patent includes more than 40 claims to the device and methods for its use in the purification of a patient’s bodily fluids.

San Diego-based Xenogenics Corp 's synthetic bio-liver device was redesigned to use the MultiCell's immortalized human liver cell lines. The Sybiol bio-liver is a device designed to support patients who are waiting for liver transplants and are suffering from episodic liver disease caused by hepatitis, alcoholism or cancer, or from burn or toxic shock syndrome or other liver trauma.

Jerry Newmin, MultiCell's CEO, said the company intends to file additional patents covering further improvements to the Sybiol device and its application.

MultiCell provides non-tumorigenic functional hepatic (liver) cells and cell lines to pharmaceutical companies for induction studies and toxicity screening for drug discovery.

Discoveries such as this are certainly good new for those suffering and waiting for liver transplants. An invention such as this signifies that we probably are not too far away from regenerating entire organs using cell lines. The problem of using immortalized cell lines (cancerous) will have to be eliminated, and certain other aspects such as contact inhibition and growing the complete organ need to be addressed, but this is a step towards being able to regenerate organs completely.

i wonder if theyll ever be able to create a synthetic brain, isnt it too complicated and stuff?

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
i wonder if theyll ever be able to create a synthetic brain, isnt it too complicated and stuff?

Synthetic brains.... some might argue that computers would serve this role, but to my knowledge AI based on computers isn't that far along yet.

The problem with the brain is that it has something like 10^15 connections, which as I understand it is more than all of the electrical connections present in the world today.

yeah it would have to have memory functions perfectly too, and doesnt your ability to dream come from the brain?

There are approximately 100 billion neurons in a normal human brain, so that means to get the number of connections you have to account for every possible combination of 2 neurons, assuming you don't count 'complex connections' of three or more neurons, the number is still higher than the number of chess moves possible, which is higher than the number of atoms in the universe if I'm not mistaken.

I think it's 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Can anyone confirm that?

Synthetic brains are probably nowhere near feasible right now, but perhaps one day. With molecular printing, anything is possible I suppose, but there's no telling it'll work right. The chemical solution wouldn't be too hard to nail, but the trick would probably be the receptors. I'm sure it's possible, just extraordinarily difficult with todays technology. The lungs are another tricky organ to replicate. All things considered, the liver is probably one of the easier organs to fake, no? It's still a major advance though, good on them for continuing to blur the lines between man and machine. I always knew I'd die a cyborg.

Edit: The ability to dream seems to be a random firing of neurons to establish new thought patterns based on comparison of disparate ideas and rejection of incorrect matches ie: If you saw a man with a beard and beautiful woman in the same day your dream might involve a bearded woman. There is a dreaming robot that was built a little while ago, his creators are still studying him, but he appears to be getting smarter and understanding the world better.
Dreams seem to serve as verification of reality for our brain, a sort of 'Does This Make Sense' check through the memory banks.

[edit on 1-3-2005 by WyrdeOne]

The lungs are another tricky organ to replicate.

They've already made Artificial lungs too

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I think it's 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Can anyone confirm that?

Wyrde, I've read that the number is 10^15 connections... can probably find a ref. if necessary. I am not sure how many atoms there are in the universe... I know it's somewhat less than 10^80

Originally posted by sardion2000
They've already made Artificial lungs too

news.bbc.co.uk...

Good link Sardion, but it was from 2001. The article said they were entering clinical trials, any word since then? I haven't heard anything about this, so I would surmise they either found it wasn't workable, or they haven't completed the trials. Any idea which?

Mattison
I found this link and I'm looking for others. I think my number of neurons was correct, but I'm still trying to figure out how to set up the equation, because the simple multiplication doesn't allow for complex connections. I was always under the impression that while the number of neurons was manageable, quantifiable, the number of connections was astronomical. 100 billion neurons, do we agree on that? Here's that link.
hypertextbook.com...

[edit on 1-3-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

Originally posted by sardion2000
They've already made Artificial lungs too

news.bbc.co.uk...

Good link Sardion, but it was from 2001. The article said they were entering clinical trials, any word since then? I haven't heard anything about this, so I would surmise they either found it wasn't workable, or they haven't completed the trials. Any idea which?

Mattison
I found this link and I'm looking for others. I think my number of neurons was correct, but I'm still trying to figure out how to set up the equation, because the simple multiplication doesn't allow for complex connections. I was always under the impression that while the number of neurons was manageable, quantifiable, the number of connections was astronomical. 100 billion neurons, do we agree on that? Here's that link.
hypertextbook.com...

[edit on 1-3-2005 by WyrdeOne]

Here is an article from 2002, hope that helps. I would not be surprised if they were forced back to the drawing board, but if in 2002 they thought it could enter trials "soon" then it could happen anyday now. What is the usual time it takes to approve implants for Human testing?Article

[edit on 1-3-2005 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Mattison
I found this link and I'm looking for others. I think my number of neurons was correct, but I'm still trying to figure out how to set up the equation, because the simple multiplication doesn't allow for complex connections.

Good for you for doing the calculations yourself

I personally took the easy way out, and let someone else do this calculation for me.

Check this link out.

I was always under the impression that while the number of neurons was manageable, quantifiable, the number of connections was astronomical. 100 billion neurons, do we agree on that?

On the number of neurons... Agreed.

[edit on 1-3-2005 by mattison0922]

Whew! Just think what this means for all the alcoholics that's been told to quit drinking!

At least they won't die from cirrhosis of the liver!

Where's my beer?

Okay, according to this link:
pages.slc.edu...

There are between 10k and 100k neurons connected to any given neuron, and that number grows with every new thought. So..the numbers get big quick.

Sardion
It is interesting technology, almost resembles a catheter in form. I'm not sure how they 'collect' the oxygen, and I would guess it's still a copyrighted procedure. The problem you have to overcome in making an artificial lung, is finding a suitable subsitute for the alveoli. If one could produce artificial alveoli, one could cure most of the age related, water related, and smoking related illnesses. That alone would be a huge breakthrough, you don't even need new lungs, just suck on an inhaler filled with sticky backed artificial alveoli! LOL Modern science just gets creepier and creepier doesn't it?

thats alot of atoms in a universe

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

a gugle (i think thats the proper spelling of it which google was named after) is a number with 100 0s after it thats 20 more zeros like this

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00


....so...many...zeros...
i know i messed up on the commas on the gugle, but i seriously dont feel like changing them.

[edit on 1/3/2005 by Schmidt1989]

[edit on 1/3/2005 by Schmidt1989]

[edit on 1/3/2005 by Schmidt1989]

Synthetic livers and monkeys moving cursors and robotic arms by thought... Medicine and technology are intertwining more and more everyday. This kind of shoots the whole cloning thing, it's gotta be cheaper to build something like this than to clone spares