BIO/MED: Organ Cloning

GBurch1@aol.com
Sat, 4 Sep 1999 10:22:37 EDT

In a message dated 99-08-30 03:43:28 EDT, bradbury@www.aeiveos.com (Robert J. Bradbury) wrote: 

> I'm of the opinion that one of the major problems is the

> cell division rate. How long does it take you to grow
> a 5 kg (?) liver from a single cell with a 24 hour
> doubling time? {I could compute this since I'm pretty
> sure the information is in NM, but I'm being lazy tonight.}
>
> The question comes down to how much you can "push"
> mammalian growth (e.g. with hyperoxygenation/glucose
> levels, hormones, etc.). What is the fastest growing mammal?
> And would this result in an organ that was "prematurely"
> aged? [Pushing division rates=pushing mutations, pushing
> oxygen levels=pushing free radical damage, pushing glucose=
> pushing protein glycosylation, etc.]

It's good to see at least some first-order thinking about the practical problems of organ cloning. To date, I've been thinking this will be the numero uno biotech breakthrough within the next ten to 15 years. Question: Have you worked through the question regarding time you pose here to a next-order approximation, Robert? Do you know if anyone's working specifically on these issues? 

     Greg Burch     <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
     Attorney  :::  Vice President, Extropy Institute  :::  Wilderness Guide
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