
The Kidney Project: Creating a Bioartificial Kidney - axson
https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney
======
reasonattlm
To add some sense of time and scale here, an article on the same project from
2010:

[http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/UCSF-team-working-on-
ar...](http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/UCSF-team-working-on-artificial-
kidney-3166374.php)

Bioartifical kidneys are nowadays competing with the organoid approach. For
chemical factory and filter organs, the artifical organ doesn't have to look
anything like the real thing in order to perform at least some of its
functions.

So for example, now that researchers can forge tiny functional kidney
organoids (
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/protex.2015.087](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/protex.2015.087)
) they can chain these things together into useful structures for implant or
use inside biomaterial enclosures.

There is definitely a spectrum between materials science and biology, with
hypothetically practical devices possible at all points and the line between
device and organ very blurry. The biology end is putting more competitive
pressure on the materials science end these days.

~~~
axson
"with hypothetically practical devices possible at all points and the line
between device and organ very blurry."

Yes this is certainly very interesting. For someone like me who works
clinicaly in dialysis care it is fascinating to follow. Will this project
succeed? If so, how will the dialysis medical care change? Maybe there will be
no need for dialysis in the future.

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grondilu
Yesterday I learnt that cats have such efficient kidneys that they can re-
hydrate by drinking sea water. I wonder what would happen if an artificial
kidney was capable of doing that.

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gumby
Vanderbilt seems to be further along (not that it's a contest, strictly
speaking, but in the interest of science, and for those who _like_ contests):
[http://www.vckd.org/bioartificial-kidneys](http://www.vckd.org/bioartificial-
kidneys) and the always-risky-university-press-office version:
[http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/02/vu-inside-dr-william-
fiss...](http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/02/vu-inside-dr-william-
fissell’s-artificial-kidney/) Disclaimer: I went to school with the PI

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Tharkun
The video states that dialysis doesn't perform all the tasks of a healthy
kidney. If that's the case, then wouldn't a better dialysis machine be a more
logical first step? That removes the size issue from equation.

~~~
axson
Yes, but that wouldn't take away the decline in quality of life for dialysis
patients. They still would have to go to a dialysis clinic 3 times a week for
treatments.

~~~
rue
A _better_ dialysis machine might be portable?

~~~
olliej
There are much bigger problems due to secondary infections caused by the
/permanently/ implanted tubes required for regular dialysis.

The tubes also need to be frequently opened and used for self/manual dialysis
that may be needed on a regular every-7-hours kind of way.

A friend of mine had his kidneys fail and he was on manual dialysis every 7
hours or something, every day, and could never miss ine. Once due to a power
cut he had to drive 3 hours to get to a working microwave because he had to
heat the fluid bags to body temp before using them.

