Regenerative medicine is the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function. It can be used for many things by many different techniques. It can benefit many different people in many different ways. Regenerative medicine replaces/repairs tissues that the body cannot repair on its own. This includes things such as organs like kidneys; if one needs to be removed we may be able to replace/repair it. Regenerative medicine can save lives and be a lot more useful than average people may think it is. Using state of the arc technology we may be able to prevent organ transplant rejection due to the fact that we can grow the organ from the patients owns cells/tissue. Current estimates say that approximately one in three Americans can benefit from regenerative medicine.
Stem cells are used a lot in regenerative medicine. The stem cells are what are used to create the organ in the lab. The scientists first take the stem cells and place them and a model for them to grow on. Once the stem cells have grown and formed tissues around the mold they add what the organ needs to do its function. They then send electrical signals to bring the organ to life, like a heartbeat, almost as if they are reviving it. This has the potential of saving millions of lives in the long run, maybe even billions, or eventually trillions if mankind last that long. Of course technology will advance and there will be different techniques and approaches for regenerative medicine, but technology is developing faster than ever in the past 100 years, so we may not be as far away from achieving great things as you might think. Say someone needs a new bladder, but no bladders that match them are currently available. Well with regenerative medicine we can create a new bladder in a hopefully short period of time with the tissues and cells of the person who needs the bladder. Therefor there will be no shortage of organs