• Question: With bio-engineering/health related engineering, will a time come when disability is not a disadvantage, as we are starting to see in the paralympics?

    Asked by julia to Alex, Claire, Kate, Marcus, Neil on 20 Jun 2014.
    • Photo: Marcus Johns

      Marcus Johns answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      If tissue and biomedical engineering are able to fulfil the aims that some people think that they are able to achieve, there may be a time when the paralympics in its current form no longer exists because we’ll be able to repair any form of physical damage done to our bodies including paralysis.

      I think this time is still many decades, if not centuries, away but progress is being made. People with physical disabilities can now do things that no-one would have thought capable only a few years ago, thanks mainly to the development of artificial aids – for example the exoskeleton that allows people paralysed from the waist down to walk – but these can be bulky and don’t restore the same level of function as a non-disabled person has. In the future these aids will be smaller and be able to achieve more but the person would still be disabled without them.

      The aim of tissue engineering is to be able to heal the damaged tissue, organ or limb either via the introduction of new cells to the area or by growing a new limb or organ in a lab and then replacing the damaged part. If successful this would mean that a person who was disabled would no longer be disabled, nor have to rely on machines to help them.

    • Photo: Claire Brockett

      Claire Brockett answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      I would have to agree with Marcus, that there should come a time when we will be able to repair the damage – but it will be a long way off.
      The work I’ve been doing has been looking at replacement joints – for when the joints are severely damaged by arthritis or other diseases/injuries – and although these do work well, they aren’t as good as a healthy joint. Some of the work we’re doing is to improve the function of the replacement joint so the patient can forget it’s there and go about their lives without worrying about it.
      One of the biggest challenges though is diagnosis. By the time a patient needs a joint replacement, their joint is really damaged and painful – but most of this damage is done even before the patient knows about it. If there was a way we could diagnose the damage earlier, we might be able to us tissue engineering to heal it.

    • Photo: Alex Lyness

      Alex Lyness answered on 21 Jun 2014:

      Hey julia,

      What a great question! I think you’re spot on with your observation about the Paralympics. I think in some cases we’re already there and some Paralympic athletes may have superior performance to humans.

      The best example is probably the ‘blades’ used as prosthetics. These composite materials are really springy and can be more energy efficient that human calves and achilles, also as they have no blood supply they don’t get cramp! Soon those guys will be overtaking Usain Bolt over 200m.

      The are a load of ‘smart-prosthetics’ in development in research groups around the world they are a little way off, check out this link: http://science.howstuffworks.com/prosthetic-limb5.htm Soon these limbs/hands/feet will be controlled by the brain or nerves (just like normal) but will have loads of different functions. Imagine if you had a hand that didn’t get tired? You could write for 3 hours in an exam non-stop, or fire an arrow without shaking, or play tennis for a really long time.

      As far as bio-engineered solutions there has been some success. So far some surgeons in London have managed to transplant a trachea (wind pipe) that has been grown in the lab for a patients who’s windpipe kept collapsing. Other scientists have done something similar for some peoples bladders. Both of these organs are simple jobs (relative to more complex organs in the body) though but they have significantly improved the lives of those who have received them, as they are no longer disabled.

      What would be really great with all three examples above is if we could get the equipment/treatment developed so that it was cheaper and easier to perform them more people would have access to it and have the chance to overcome their disabilities and live normal lives.

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