ABSTRACT
This chapter will review current activities and proposed research related to the development of artificial organs and organ-assist devices. While we will focus on the human liver, the discussion is applicable to other organs. The pancreas and the endocrine functions of the kidney follow the same basic path — the culturing of cells on a scaffold. The cells, of course, must function as they do in a natural uncompromised state while the scaffold provides a permanent or temporary template on which the cells attach and proliferate.
