Mini Livers:From Real world to Grey's-Suhani

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, formerly known as the Seattle Grace Hospital, is a premier research institute on the show Grey's Anatomy. Throughout eighteen seasons, viewers have seen groundbreaking researche and innovations come and go, thus changing the face of medicine. Little did we know that the majority of cases and research on Grey's are based on real medicine. Though the show seems unrealistic and has its share of medical discrepancies, Meredith Grey's research on mini livers in season 14 exists in reality! From the lab of Dr. Eric Lagasse, the study on mini livers made it to the show.

Season fourteen of Grey's portrayed Meredith as being married to her work, and this was also the season wherein she won the coveted Harper Avery Award, after her mother Dr. Ellis Grey also won the same award five times. In an attempt to win the surgical innovation contest, which lasted for most of season fourteen, Meredith came up with an idea to make mini livers that would change the face of medicine. After a series of events, she successfully managed to take the study forward.

Talking about the science and research behind the concept of the generation of mini livers, this process is based on a complex biological process called 'organogenesis'. Organogenesis is a process by which internal organs are formed. It takes place during the development of an embryo and after a hepatectomy (surgical removal of all or part of the liver) when the liver regenerates. On the show, Dr. Meredith Grey uses this knowledge for her study.

Using skin cells from human volunteers, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have created fully functional mini livers, which they then transplanted into rats. The researchers created their mini livers by reprogramming human skin cells into stem cells, coaxing those stem cells to become different types of liver cells Thereafter, those human liver cells were seeded into a rat liver with all of its liver cells removed.

Scientists are optimistic that this research is paving the way for 'made-to-order organ transplants'. I believe that this research will not only aid organ transplants but also find cures for various diseases. This technology is still under various phases of clinical and surgical trials but has shown very promising results.