May 25, 2006

There is Hope for Rusty! Scientists Grow Penis in Laboratory

Finally a sign that biotech is meeting consumer demand. And by consumer I mean me. And by me I mean Mrs. Shackleford.

Fox News:

It's now possible to replace a defective, damaged, or diseased penis with a penis grown in a laboratory -- in rabbits....

In the rabbit study, Atala's team removed the penises from rabbits and entirely replaced the organs with penises grown from the animal's own cells.

Atala says the new penises have blood vessels and nerves that allow them to become fully functional. Indeed, the replacement penises worked like a charm. The rabbits were able to get erections, mate with females, and get females pregnant with normal, healthy pups.

Via Traderrob, who has a great ending quip well worth the click over to his site.

UPDATE: Must. Stop. Laughing. From Graeme in the comments.

I'll think more of this project when they announce that the replacement penis needs to be grown on something a bit bigger than a rabbit......like a horse.
It's funnier because Graeme is a girl. A dirty, dirty girl.

Update: Apparently Grame is a dude! My apologies to Grame. Maybe you can e-mail stuff like this to Oyster and let her post it in the future!

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 12:11 PM | |