A box of tissues is on her desk at all times.
Growing these complex tissues is much more challenging than growing sheets of skin or connective tissue.
As a result, the size of lab-grown tissues is strictly limited to several millimetres.
Still, the possibility of tapping the cell's ability to regenerate the body's tissues is hard to ignore.
Another possible way to develop such compatible tissues is to use stem cells made by cloning the patient's own cells.
The organism is about half a millimeter long, but its anatomy, including softer tissues, is preserved in great detail.
Research in different areas of medicine and on human tissues is so tightly regulated now that the HFEA is superfluous.
It is not clear if the system of stem cells found in particular tissues is entirely separate, or somehow dependent on the bone marrow system.
The Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of Kleenex tissues, is joining forces with Meetup for an initiative sponsored by the company's baby brands, like Huggies and Pull-Ups.
"I think the notion of trying to extract adult stem cells from adult tissues is possibly a fool's errand," he said.
Most orthopedic surgery using these tissues is elective, Dr. Malarkey said, and "there are enough other processors that we hope it will not pose a supply problem".
