How will tissue engineering benefit the public?
Dr. Naughton: I hope that Advanced Tissue Sciences will redefine how transplantation is done. So that in the not-too-distant-future, no patients will have to die because they are on a transplant list and there are not enough organs to go around. MedTech1: What kinds of tissues have you re-created to date? Dr. Naughton: In addition to the skin products, cartilage, bone, blood vessels, and heart valves, we have been successful in animal studies for liver implant, for pancreatic islet transplants to be able to eventually cure diabetes, and with other structures such as the partial intestinal replacements, trachea replacements, and replacements of cranial facial bone and cartilage. MedTech1: How do you think this invention benefits the scientific community? Dr. Naughton: There are two points here. The whole field of tissue engineering is unique in a couple of ways. First, it forces the integration of a number of scientific disciplines that in the past did not work together. There are cell
