The promise of a bioartificial kidney

UCSF bioengineer Shuvo Roy and his team have created the world’s first bionic kidney. The coffee-cup-sized device includes a silicon nanotechnology filter to cleanse the blood, while living kidney cells grown in a bioreactor perform the other functions of a natural kidney. A bioartificial kidney could save kidney patients from being stuck on a dialysis machine for life – or dying while waiting for a rare transplant. But is the promise of such a life-changing device enough to convince investors to bring such a thing to market? We talk through the ethics of artificial organs. Get the Should This Exist? newsletter! Discussion questions, reading list, more: See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .

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The promise of a bioartificial kidney is an episode from Should This Exist? by WaitWhat.

This episode is 00:34:02 long.

This episode was published on Dec 2, 2020.

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