PHOTOS: American Scientists Finally Made Human Lungs

For the first time, scientists in the US have successfully created human lungs in a lab, an exciting step forward in regenerative medicine. "It's so darn cool. It's been science fiction and we're moving into science fact," said a researcher at University of Texas Medical Branch, identified as Joan Nichols.

If the lungs work, they could help the more than 1,600 people awaiting a lung transplant. Lungs are one of the many body parts being manufactured in the lab. Parts, such as tracheas and livers, are even further along.

"Whole-organ engineering is going to work as a solution to the organ donor shortage."

This is according to Dr. Stephen Badylak, deputy director of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
                                     

The researchers in Texas started with lungs from two children who'd died from trauma, most likely a car accident, Nichols said.

Their lungs were too damaged to be used for transplantation, but they did have some healthy tissue. They took one of the lungs and stripped away nearly everything, leaving a scaffolding of collagen and elastin. The scientists took cells from the other lung and put them on the scaffolding.

They immersed the structure in a large chamber filled with a liquid "resembling Kool-Aid,", which provided nutrients for the cells to grow. After about four weeks, an engineered human lung emerged. Wow! medical researchers are really going far.