Make no bones about it: A one-of-a-kind factory is going up in northern Israel. Scientists at the Haifa facility there will manufacture bones for use in bone grafts, and they’ll do so using a new technique — taking live fat cells from patients by liposuction –which, according to its inventor, Dr. Shai Meretzki, will significantly change the way doctors relate to orthopedic problems and bone repairs.
By DAVID SHAMAH, The Times of Israel
Make no bones about it: A one-of-a-kind factory is going up in northern Israel. Scientists at the Haifa facility there will manufacture bones for use in bone grafts, and they’ll do so using a new technique — taking live fat cells from patients by liposuction –which, according to its inventor, Dr. Shai Meretzki, will significantly change the way doctors relate to orthopedic problems and bone repairs.
And once his company, Bonus BioGroup, has perfected its method of growing bones in a test tube, Meretzki said, it will also move on to developing joint replacements, which could help billions of older people regain their lost freedom of movement.
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Grow me a bone
“Our bone-regeneration methodology is a powerful tool for treating a variety of bone and joint diseases without the risk of tissue rejection and surgery failure, as with current methods of bone replacement and implants,” Meretzki claimed.
Dr. Shai Meretzki
Over two million bone-graft procedures are performed annually, and problems are endemic to most of them, Meretzki explained to The Times of Israel this week. A bone graft is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in the body. It may be needed when victims of particularly bad accidents find that their bones are too broken to be set in a cast. There are cases where bones are removed to prevent infection or other problems. In yet-other instances, doctors may have to remove bones that are not healing properly and are interfering with the body’s normal functions.
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Via The Times of Israel
Photos: Courtesy
