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Bladders grown in a Boston lab could become the first “tissue-engineered”
organs to be transplanted into people. Anthony Atala of the Boston Children’s
Hospital says that he expects to get permission to transplant a bladder into
humans within months. Two years ago, he successfully transplanted engineered
bladders into six beagles. The organs were constructed from tissue taken from
the dogs’ own bladders. Atala, speaking last week in Boston, told the BBC that a
child whose bladder has been damaged by an accident or cancer could be the first
recipient.