Spoiler alert! Don’t read the following until you’ve finished reading Night Watch.
Many readers may assume the Night Watch organ reproduction project is the stuff of science fiction, but some forms of the process are actually here today. Dr. Anthony Atala is doing fascinating work with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He and his team have taken human cells and grown replacement blood vessels, muscles, skin, and a complete urinary bladder. The ultimate goal is to re-create other vital organs that are a perfect match for patients, eliminating the need for organ donors in most cases. Atala and others have developed 3-D printers that actually print replacement organs using water-based solutions containing animal cells. Philadelphia tech company BioBots has actually brought such a printer to market, and although such efforts have yet to be approved for human use, serious work is under way.
Exciting times, indeed.