I've been lurking for a while and I'm writing something, so I'll get around to a Username when I've finished. In the meantime I had to post this question, it's been bubbling around in my head for a few weeks and won't go away.
I recently heard about new stem cell research where they take stem cells from someone, use their own bone marrow to grow more then harvest those cells to make new tissue. I saw this on a BBC science programme in an article about a man getting his heart repaired. The thing that got me was the comment made at the end of the article. The presenter, a biologist herself, mentioned that doctors had grown a bronchial tract for someone in a bioreactor.
Now, she'd read an article or heard a story, mentioned it on TV and I heard it, making the topic anecdotal at best. However it did raise the question in my mind, could you do the same thing with a vagina? A uterus? Breasts? Even a pelvis?
I'm posting this in the hopes that someone undergoing SRS, or an interested doctor, or researcher with the proper knowledge and/or contacts could investigate more fully.
The tricky bit would be 'tricking' XY stem cells into producing organs that were meant for XX individuals or vise versa, the question being is there enough information on the XY chromosome to produce fully functioning organs? If not can the Y chromosome be removed and the X copied over?
I'm not a geneticist, nor a stem cell researcher, to be perfectly honest I'm more interested in a new pancreas myself but I have pills and a sugar free diet, so I can wait.
I'm putting this forward in the hopes that someone out there will go 'hmmm...' and put a bit more hope into the lives of transgendered people.
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Wouldn't that be nice?
Not many M2Fs would say no to that. It would also be pretty cool if it meant that a F2M could literally grow some balls! :)
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Royal catgirl of the court of the Empress of Euphoria. I like fine seafood, and I love huggles! ^_^
Not impossible. Work is ongoing.
Nothing inherently impossible in the idea.
Note that a trachea is very simple for this sort of process, as it's mostly cartilage. Expect to see ears (did you ever see that mouse with the human ear sticking out of its back?) and noses early in the development of this technology.
One X chromosome is enough, in XX cells, one is permanently deactivated in something called a Barr Body, which you can see through a microscope. Not sure if there is enough information on the X chromosome for growing male structures.
I recall reading (in New Scientist?) a couple of years ago about an experiment where they replaced the penis (a relatively simple structure) with one grown in a lab on a rabbit. So good news there for those with damage and FtoMs wanting phaloplasty.
Don't hold your breath though, I'd expect it to be 10 to 20 years before this sort of technology will be generally available.
bioreactors...
They've had them for a while. A decade ago, they grew a rib cage from cartilage for a boy who had ribs on only one side of his body.
Apparently, the most difficult parts of the growth isn't creating the simple organs (breast tissue is simply fatty tissue, after all), it's creating the blood flow network to support those organs.
As for organs, they're trying to use the 'laser printer' approach, where they clone up lots of cells, then build the complex construction one layer at a time.
They're not there yet, but they're getting closer all the time - as long as we can keep the government and nutjobs from closing them down.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Is one X enough?
Given time, yes.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
The trachea
was taken from a donor(deceased) and cleared to remove any of the donor's cells and then used as a framework for the stem cells to colonise. It wasn't built from scratch.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10899275
As for your other queries about other parts of the body. They're already using stem cell injections to restore pancreatic function in some forms of diabetes, mainly type 1. The others are less likely unless they happen for other problems. Many doctors see gender surgery as cosmetic or indulgent, so if the right wing press got wind of anyone receiving that sort of treatment they'd have a field day.
It is possible to transplant belly fat from the abdomen into the breasts and to separate off some of the stem cells, which are then remixed with the fat and injected into the breasts. It's still at the experimental stage although some private clinics are using it in London. In the NHS it's only being used for breast reconstruction after cancer - see link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15141265
Angharad
Angharad
Hmm...
If someone did a BOOB-oo, it could all go Tits-up!
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Royal catgirl of the court of the Empress of Euphoria. I like fine seafood, and I love huggles! ^_^
One X Enough
Females with chromosome damage to the active X chromosome will have the inactive one replicated to replace the damaged X.
At least that is what I discovered while doing research for the story, 'Neurons for Girls'. (Yes, I do all the nerdy research to make sure that my stories at least have a loose basis in what is possible with today's science. I just look like a bimbo.)
Wholeman
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.