The body shops

The latest breed of replacement organs is a combination of chip technology and living tissue. The current effort is focused on so-called biohybrid or bioartificial organs, which combine living cells with materials such as silicon and polymers. The hybrid organs get their structure from the inorganic material while relying on living tissue, grown from cadavers, animals, or, one day, from the patient´s own body, to do the complex tasks they do best, such as processing biochemicals and filtering blood. Although biohybrids are being tested outside the body and are at least five years away from reaching the market, ultimately they are being designed as implants-seamless replacement parts.