This blog post is not about food for the tongue but food for thought.
It was my entry to the Springer Writing Contest.
A graduate student who has gone home for a vacation chances to talk to her nonagenarian great-grandmother. The well educated and articulate grandmother attributes her health to Science and this sets the duo chatting about the advancements in healthcare and why the probability of living a longer is higher in the twenty-first century than it was before.
INTRODUCTION:
The average life span of a human is now twice what it was less than a decade ago. While wars consumed many lives, diseases also had a huge role to play in the vicious cycle of low natality rate and high mortality. This was due to the absence of proper healthcare. Diseases like the pox and Measles that seem simple today were deadly once upon a time. This paradigm shift from deadly worry to a mild irritant is primarily due to the advancements in healthcare. Though vaccines and drugs were available in the previous century, one thing that was not available then and is rapidly developing now is tissue engineering.
TISSUE ENGINEERING:
Tissue Engineering deals growing new organs in order to repair damaged old organs. This is similar to replacing the parts of an auto-mobile as they wear out. Tissue Engineering that was once limited to transplanting organs from one portion of the body to another has now evolved to something that involves the creation of organs from cells and bio-materials, aided by suitable environmental conditions. In the last five years Tissue Engineered Grafts for skin and blood vessels have been prepared and the day is not far when Tissue Engineering will be used to create nerves and other tissues that seem seemingly impossible to create.
THE TALE BEGINS:
As I sat on the verandah of my my house lazily sipping my coffee a brisk and smart woman in her nineties brushed past me and sat down on the chair opposite mine. “Good Morning Ammama” I greeted her as she sat down nodding with a cup of coffee in her hand. I reminded her that she would be turning ninety five the next day and told her to not rush. She nodded and said that it was the will of God and discoveries in Science that had enabled her to live this long. I curiously asked her what she meant by that. Being a Doctorate student in Tissue Engineering, I understood what she meant but was surprised by the fact that my Ammama knew so much.
She took a sip of her coffee and pointed to the picture of my great grandfather hanging on the wall and solemnly said, If only he had contracted the deadly disease he had five years later. He would be alive now. This set my grey cells churning as I wondered how the situation was less than a decade ago and how it would be few years down the line. My great-grandfather had succumbed to liver cirrhosis. Liver Replacements were unknown of in the time he lived. My thoughts were interrupted when Ammama gingerly tapped my knee with her left hand. As I looked up she pointed to a line on her forearm indicating the place where her skin had been cut to place an implant. She said “When you were a little girl I fractured my arm and had this implant. Last year when my heart valve was not functioning properly the doctor replaced it with a new one. In fact my ocular lens is also artificial.” As I slowly nodded my head in approval, she said “Our body is like an auto-mobile. These organs are like spare parts”.
At that moment a creaking of the gate was heard. Both of us turned to face the gate as my cousin Leela entered holding her year old son Aditya in one hand. Aditya had a black thread tied around his waist. I could not help but notice a small cylindrical wire attached to the thread. Leela noticed that I was looking at it and explained to me that it was a small piece of the umbilical cord that had connected her to Aditya. I asked Leela if she had harvested that umbilical cord. Leela nodded. Ammama lifted Aditya and said,”This young man will most likely have a longer life than most of us”.I added that Cord Blood Banking was an excellent idea, especially since it could be used to treat many disorders that include leukaemia. I also added that the umbilical cord was an excellent source of stem cells that could be harvested and used for development of organs.
Ammama’s eyes gaped like that of a small child. She asked me to elaborate on what I had said. I cleared my throat and began. “Just like you have this metallic implant in you, one day you might just have your own implant made of your own cells”. As Ammama could not fathom what I was saying, I asked her if she remembered all the drugs she had to take when she had the arm surgery. I explained to her that some of those were immuno-suppressants that prevented the body from attacking the implant, as her own body cells would assume the implant to be a foreign body, I told her that the day was not far off when one could have their own organs manufactured from their very own cells.
Aditya entered the room. With uneven steps he hastened to me and tugged my dress. I lifted him up and made him sit down on my lap. I explained to her that. Cells in the umbilical cord that I had mentioned earlier were embryonic stem cells that could develop into any kind of cell provided that right environment and nutrients were provided. I was able to sense that Ammama was losing track of the conversation. I decided that being simple was better than confusing her.
I asked her what the difference between bone and skin was. Ammama said “Bone is hard, Skin is soft”. I smiled and said “Yes!!! Similarly if you grow those stem cells on a hard surface they will become bone! If you grow it on a soft surface they will become skin!!”. Ammama smiled and flashed me a thumbs up sign signalling that she understood. She then asked me what would happen to the heart and lungs. I explained to her that the same stem cells can be grown on a surface modelled similar to the heart surface. Thought it hadn't happened I assured her that in less than half a decade we would have engineered heart valves, skin, hearts and several other organs.
She then asked me what my research was about. I told her that I was trying to design implants for the tendon. I pointed to my wrist to explain what I meant. I told her that nowadays many people were injuring their tendon by breaking it or stretching it too much and I was attempting to make a model of an implant that would use that patients cells. I explained to her that my lab-mate Ankitha was working on knee implants and that it was a booming field. She remarked that if she ever needed an implant in the future she hoped that it would be the one designed by me. She said that she would endorse it like a badge of pride.
I realised that thought we had solved certain health issues, there were hundreds of problems left to be solved. As we found solutions to problems, more problems arise. The average life span today is eighty years and that was bound to increase considerably. Small pox, SARS and H1N1 were things of the past. EBOLA was happening and though it would be gone soon some other disease would crop up soon. I said to myself that all I could do was to make my implant effective and this would be a little contribution in the sea of healthcare research.
EPILOGUE:
The laboratory tests for the implants had been successful. The implants had been tested on animals and were on their way to getting Device Exemption from the regulatory board. As I waited for the regulatory officer from HSA to formally announce our approval, my phone rang. I cut it once but called back intermediately realizing that it was my mother. My mothers voice choked with emotion as she said that Ammama had passed away. A tear rolled down my cheek. Ammama had seen her grand daughter’s grandson and had lived a full life. I looked at the skies and blew a kiss to Ammama and ensured her that though I did not have the privilege of letting her try the implant I designed many people in the years to come, will use it.
CONCLUSION:
Nothing is impossible in the world of Tissue Engineering. While on one hand bio-materials are being developed to enhance the cell culture process, on the other people are working towards creating new organs and tissues.Though Cord Blood and Stem Cell banking seem to be the way forward into the future, the concept faces several roadblocks in the form of escalating storage costs and ethical concerns. Nature throws several problems at us and it is up to humans to solve these problems using the resources nature has provided us with.
In the years to come we can expect several organs to be created by means of tissue engineering. Not just several tissues but complete working organs. Given the advancements in technology, though probably not in the foreseeable future, some day complete organ systems may be created artificially. Till then we need to keep working hard towards doing our little bit to the society.
My great grandmother lived to see her progenies of five generations. Who knows I might live to see seven.
“Heal the world, Make it a better place.
For you, for me and the entire human race.....”
