[Hplusroadmap] Fwd: [ExI] Bootstrapping a singularity (not-essay) (was Re: MAX MORE in Second Life yesterday)

[Jim Hardy]

There are "trans well" systems that are effective for simple systems.  This
permits differentiation or alignment of cells across a semi-permeable
membrane surface based on simple chemistries.

"Slicing" a tissue to a single layer ( which would be somewhere in the 5 to
20 micron region) has not been achieved, as far as I know, but that would
solve some problems.

Hollow fiber systems can mimic the niche of the macro-vascular system and
are being used for artificial liver propagation and stem cell research.  For
example, it has been reported that vascular endothelial cells require an
environment which mimics the sheer force of blood flow through for proper
homeostasis and hollow fibers can do this.  They can be layered with
extracellular matrix proteins or just about anything else.

 I know these guys pretty well: http://www.fibercellsystems.com/

Jim H 

-----Original Message-----
From: hplusroadmap-bounces at heybryan.org
[mailto:hplusroadmap-bounces at heybryan.org] On Behalf Of Bryan Bishop
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2008 11:40 PM
To: Transhumanist Technical Roadmap
Subject: Re: [Hplusroadmap] Fwd: [ExI] Bootstrapping a singularity
(not-essay) (was Re: MAX MORE in Second Life yesterday)

On Saturday 14 June 2008, Jim Hardy wrote:
> I've done plenty of culturing tissue slices.  The primary obstacle to
> overcome is the short life in vitro due to inconsistent permeation of
> the culture medium into the deeper cells of the tissue vs. the
> peripheral cells. There are a couple ways to get around this, like
> some of the work being done with hollow fiber bioreactors, although
> they are not perfect either.

So, for the depth and volume issues, I think that's why some (or is it 
just me?) propose the slicing idea where you sheet up single-layer or 
very few layer tissue slides (2D cell arrays) and then allow diffusion 
over the tops and bottoms of the sheet. However, this isn't the same 
thing as growing the full system itself, i.e. it's cheating the 
vascularization problem and the stem cell research that would 
undoubtedly be involved. Hollow fiber scaffolds sound interesting, how 
does it work? Is it a pre-layered scaffolding system?

- Bryan
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