[2] A key objective of organ culture is to maintain the architecture of the tissue and direct it towards normal development.
Organ culture technology has contributed to advances in embryology,[3] inflammation, cancer, and stem cell biology research.
[2] In April 2006, scientists reported a successful trial of seven bladders grown in-vitro and given to humans.
[4][5] A bladder has been cultured by Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
[6] Silk cut from silkworm cocoons has been successfully used as growth scaffolding for heart tissue production.
[8] He now works at Ott Lab which focuses on the creation of bioartificial hearts, lungs, tracheas and kidneys.
[10][11] In January 2017, scientists from Salk Institute for Biological Studies managed to create a pig embryo that had part of its DNA, critical for the growth of organs, edited out.
Since serum was found to be toxic, serum-free media were used, and the special apparatus permitted the use of 95% oxygen.
In this approach the explant is placed onto a raft of lens paper or rayon acetate, which is floated on serum in a watch glass.
A modification of the original grid method is widely used to study the growth and differentiation of adult and embryonic tissues.