IN A remarkable feat of tissue engineering, major parts of the penises of several rabbits have been replaced with segments grown in a lab from their own cells. The animals were able to use the reconstructed organs to mate.
The next step is to try to recreate the entire organ from scratch. The technique could make it possible to reconstruct the penises of men who have suffered injuries or those of children born with genital abnormalities. “If you have a child born with ambiguous genitalia, it’s a life-changing event,” says Anthony Atala of Harvard Medical School, whose team carried out…
