Emerging from the dramatic expansion in the area of health and fitness is a new field, Tissue Engineering. In one scenario, sa tissue engineer injects or places a given molecule, such as a growth factor, into a wound or an organ that requirews regeneration. These molecules cause the patients own cells to migrate into the wound site, turn into the right type of cell and regenerate the tissue.
Tissue engineering combines the fields of medical and biological engineering.
It is still at its infancy but evolving rapidly. The aging process rarely takes the same toll on all our parts, and often a critical organ like the heart gives out long before others do. The best hope in such cases is to replace the decayed part with an organ transplant or mechanical prosthetic, such as dialysis for kidney failure. That can add years of life. But prosthetics are more like crutches than substitute parts.