New Scientist: Cultured bone offers novel wedding rings
Some will think it a romantic gesture, others will find it grisly. But one willing couple in the UK is about to get the chance, thanks to a government-funded project intended to promote awareness of the issues surrounding tissue engineering.
The tricky part is that the lucky couple will have to provide bone cell samples, for which the team will get ethical approval only if both people already need surgery. The most likely scenario is that both will need wisdom teeth pulling.
During that procedure, an extra sliver of bone can be sliced from the jaw to yield bone cells. These cells will be grown on a ring-shaped scaffold structure, which will slowly dissolve as the cells colonise it.
The rough bone circles will then be given to the designers, who will consult with the couple and shape the bone into customised rings. Each partner will give the other the ring grown from their cells.
Interested couples should visit Bio Jewellery.
Exhibit #1,238,392 in a series of anecdotal proofs that we Westerners have too much money and not enough good sense.
Posted by: pam | Tuesday, March 01, 2005 at 07:50 PM