
Tissue engineering is an upcoming research that uses stem cells as a method to produce artificial tissues for the human body in order to eradicate various health conditions that can be impossible to treat. The idea of creating new tissues raises many questions regarding its morality and ethicality. Some people argue that using stem cells can be described as “murdering a child” as the stem cells are received from embryo that has the potential to develop into any other body tissue. Tissue engineering is used to develop scaffolds, cells and tissues to regenerate, maintain or improve damaged organs or tissues. There have been researches that have produced tissue engineered skin cells or heart valves, for social and medical purposes. Developing scaffolds for the heart muscles helps to treat heart conditions such as atherosclerosis, muscle damage, etc. The stem cells can either be used to inject into the tissue directly that would go on and regenerate the tissue or they can be exposed to external experimental conditions to form a whole new tissue which can be transplanted into the patient later on.

The ted talk by Nina Tandon talks about how lovely the human body is a and how it reacts differently to different conditions. When it comes to treating an illness, the human body reacts differently, as standard treatments can often cause the body to become worse. Nina Tandon is a tissue engineer and she talks about how tissue engineering can be used to make custom models of organs that can be used to test new drugs and treatments which can help to make changes and detect certain problems with the treatment and then be improved upon. This data can then be stored onto computer chips, that turns the solutions into a digital form, where biomedical engineers can use mathematical modelling of the chemical structure of the drug to formulate it. Today, tissue engineering plays a small role in the pharmaceutical industry but it is the start of a new era in the field of science that can shape the future in a positive way. There have been many arguments related to tissue engineering that have caused the research to progress slowly than usual, where it is known to define “dead bodies” but there have also been counter arguments for this claim.

The source by national institute of biomedical imaging and bioengineering talks about the process and meaning of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine which is a sub unit of tissue engineering. Regenerative medicine can be defined similar to tissue engineering, where drugs are developed that induce self-healing and regenerative measures towards the body by boosting the immune system and using foreign cells to recreate cells and build new tissues and organs. Regenerative medicine is less popular because it doesn’t guarantee as much success as tissue engineering. The field of tissue engineering keeps on evolving because now this research has many non-therapeutic applications such as using tissues as biosensors for the detection of threat agents in the body or using tissue chips to test toxicity of experimental medication. Some of the funded research by NIH in this field are controlling stem cells using the environment, implanting human livers in mice to metabolize drugs also engineering mature bone marrow stem cells that can be used to develop new tissues to be transplanted into the body or regenerating a new kidney.

There have been many researches regarding tissue engineering, one of them was artificially producing skin tissues that will function similarly to original skin tissues with functional hair follicles, nerves and glands to develop a solution to burns and testing of cosmetics on animals. The scientists used artificially produced clump of cells which were injected into mice, which later on developed into skin cells, this technology could not only treat skin burns but also other skin diseases that can be harmful for the human body. Cosmetics industry has evolved drastically in a short span of time, developing newer and better products increasing its demand in exponentially. People do not realize the fact that every cosmetic product they used have been tested before on various animals, where these innocent animals have not just been harmed by the chemical reaction of the product, but they have also been tortured and killed every single day. Producing artificial skin cells could stop this torture on innocent animals. This article was published on guardian, which is one of the most recognized news website which counters many claims that oppose the view of encouraging research into tissue engineering. This research proves the fact that tissue engineering is beneficial for the society as it is not only bringing a treatment to skin burns but is also saving many lives of humans and animals.

Research into the field of tissue engineering also brings the manufacture of synthetic blood vessels that could save children born with heart defects. These blood vessels can be implanted into the heart directly which will then grow and adapt to the body as the patient grows and matures. A child born with heart defect could have up to 5 heart surgeries that could not only cause the families a high financial crisis but it could not guarantee whether the child would survive the surgery or not. Developing synthetic heart vessels could be transplanted directly into the body of the patients, which would eventually become a part of the system, as they function way better than the older washed vessels which caused an opposing immune response. In the other source, there were counter claims regarding the research on tissue engineering. Some counterarguments such as ‘tissue engineering is considered as murder’ which is completely hypocritical to this research. If synthetic blood vessels have been manufactured to save lives of defected new born babies, then it completely opposes this stating the word ‘murder’ itself. Scholars such as Paul de Bank and Peter Weissberg have collectively said that “many babies are born with heart defects and it’s hard to know that so many of them have to go through multiple surgeries, and use of synthetic vessels can save these babies from multiple surgeries and it could revolutionize in the medical industry”, then how can people say that it portrays ‘murder’?

In one of the journals, which is peer reviewed based on the ethical theories of Derksen and Horstman, has talked about the various arguments and counter arguments on ethicality of tissue engineering. The first claim is that they are comparing the two sides of tissue engineering. Tissue engineering can be considered morally god because it is ‘copying nature’ or it defies nature as dead bodies can be seen as ‘unnatural’. Stem cell research in molecular medicine and tissue engineering have discovered the plan to make engineered tissues using embryonic stem cells, embryonic germ cells and adult stem cells. They have argued that embryos can be seen as a human being and therefore it is a violation of personal morals and volatility of the donors. Extraction of stem cells from the embryo which is a mass of blastocyst, can be considered as morally wrong. They have countered this claim by stating that ‘extracting embryonic stem cells can considered to an abortion where no questions are raised as that is a more morally wrong doing than this case. 

One of the ethical question is regarding the research on mixing human and animal tissues to create new organs and tissues. One belief is that transplanting human cells into animals prevents the idea of directly using embryonic stem cells, whereas on the other hand the other belief is of moral people not involved into genetic modification of animals. Usually human stem cells are modified and injected into animals such as rats which have reportedly caused tumors in postnatal rats. But these stem cells have also said to have therapeutic uses, they have known to restore sight or prevent diseases such as pigmentosa. The mixing of animal and human genes has been studied for many years such as use of animal cells as carriers for keratinocytes has been common for many years. Gene therapy has been a common practice in the field of tissue engineering, where genetic engineering has been useful as a therapeutic research. Genetic engineering has been most known for its use in the development of insulin for diabetes. Gene splicing and use of bacteria has caused success in the development of insulin. Genetic engineering has also raised many ethical questions regarding its use in therapeutics. It has said to cause a proliferation in the deaths of tester animals. Genetic engineering usually causes mutations in the bodies of animals due to the chemical reactions of the process, which causes their bodies to evolve in a different way, leading a way to death eventually. 

Tissue banking for cellular and molecular science has also been a great issue in terms of ethical values. Tissue banking also raises questions on ethics and morals of using stem cells. Tissue banking preserves certain tissues or cells that can be used for medicines. Certain tissues such as umbilical cord from new born babies are preserved which can be later used for regeneration of certain tissues in the body during the adult stage of the person. The umbilical stem cells can be used for tissue engineering of the tissues for the person it came from because it prevents an immune response to the tissue, which can cause damage to the tissue and prevent it from functioning. 

Regenerative medicine and the research into tissue engineering is a concept that is unknown by many people and without any information or knowledge in the subject makes them think that the technology is useless or harmful for the society which is a very stereotypical viewpoint because people tend to judge a particular subject no matter what it is whether it is related to science or any other thing in this world, but if something is new into the market, people tend to judge that particular subject in a very negative way, similarly tissue engineering is a field of research that people take in a negative way because it is associated with the use of embryonic stem cells and therefore they think that the research is initiating murder against unborn babies in order to facilitate the field of science therefore this emotional perspective of people blinds them from the logical perspective of the research making them illusive to the information that is spread by improper reviews. 

There have been various instances where this research has had issues with regulation where the government has had strict control of research into artificial tissues, especially in Malaysia where the government regulates cell and gene therapy products, although Malaysia has a very labor intensive industries and production of natural products where biotechnology is just a new field in the country. The government has realized its importance and the sector of biotechnology has been one of the key importance to the economy, contributing 5% to the country’s GDP. This research is very costly as investment into new technology can be very expensive compared to other researches into the field of science such as research into drugs or other biotechnological advancements. Malaysia has invested into new research and development to facilitate and lead commercialization of those researches. Ministry of health (MOH) has identified human cell and tissue based products and engineered products which will be regulated under different laws such as Sale of Drugs Act 1952. If a country like Malaysia will start regulating research into the field of medicine, how will its economy improve considering the fact that their economy is driven by just labor intensive industries and agriculture, a research into tissue engineering would not just boost the economy but will also help the country to stabilize in relation to the healthcare systems functioning across the country.

A scaffold is a matrix of molecules made up of proteins and other molecules that aim to regenerate damaged tissues by combining body materials with porous biomaterials that act as a template for tissue regeneration and to guide the growth of new tissues. If scaffolding can be used to regenerate a bone tissue, it can be used to cure fractures and bone injuries quicker and cheaper than other surgeries because a scaffolding will provide support for the tissue to form that is being made from stem cells that are acquired from embryos and can be used to form the bone tissue by combining the genetic information from the bone marrow and using artificial environment to create a bone that will function same as a regular bone or a scaffold of cells can be used in the body where the bone is supposed to be engineered and the scaffold will adapt to the structure of the bone under the parameters of the body to regenerate those cells. Scaffolding can be also used to create bio mechanic parts for the body such as advanced prosthetics which can be used to replace degenerated body parts where the prosthetic leg can be tissue engineered using a blastocyst of cells and then mechanics can be applied to it to make it physically possible for the device to support the body of a person. Such a technology can be used by athletes who are unable to perform in sports due to limb degeneration. Using bio mechanically designed body parts cannot just imitate the function of limbs but also helps to connect to the central nervous system, becoming a sensory active part of the body reacting similarly like any skin or muscle. 

I believe that tissue engineering is the future of medicine because it doesn’t only help to eradicate various health problems, but it also helps to replace or regenerate tissues in the body. I do not believe that tissue engineering should be considered as ‘murder’ but in fact it is copying nature in comparison to plants having the ability to regenerate and rebuild themselves which is practically impossible for the human body. Research into tissue engineering has had issues with regulation in Malaysia, which is causing a huge debate whether it should be continued or not as mentioned before. Researches such as developing artificial skin or blood vessels helps to cure many diseases related to the skin or heart which can help to save many lives of humans and animals. 
