Researchers are trying to develop a unique technique in regenerative medicine which would eliminate the need for organ donors. This technique deals with creating a print of human kidney.

Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine at a TED Conference in Long Beach, California, explained that firstly scanners are used to create a 3-D image of the patient’s kidney and then a stamp sized tissue starts the computerized process of creating a new kidney.

She said that there was a major shortage of donated organs these days and because of an improved life expectancy, our organs didn’t last as we aged.

Dr. Atala has spent 30 years studying the ability to grow and regenerate human tissue.

Wake Forest scientists took only seven hours to create a functioning human kidney by regenerating cells from a sample of patient’s living cells. Separated cells are grown in the lab and layered on the top of one another until it became a functioning kidney.

Chris Anderson, the curator of the TED conference, said, “The time limit is long enough to say something serious, but short enough not to lose your audience”.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates stated, “By forcing that speaker to boil it down, to capture the essence ... it's inspirational, it's educational”.