Artificial Kidney

Indian researcher Shiva Roy who work in the Department of bioengineering and therapeutic Sciences in the schools of pharmacy and medicine at UCSF. 

He is working on the development of an implantable by artificial kidney. 

Chronic kidney failure or end-stage renal disease as it's known affects over half a million people in this country. it's growing at about five to seven percent every year. 

It's growing because of the obesity, epidemic people who have chronic kidney failure need dialysis to survive unlike the native kidney. Dialysis does not provide all the other benefits that are required for help. 

So the people that have chronic kidney failure and are on dialysis are never healthy and if they will be implanted with artificial kidney that Shiva Roy is developing will provide most of the functions of a kidney transplant. 

This device will be implanted in your body and provide both the toxin removal as well as the biological activity that's required for help. 

The device consists of two basic Chambers, AHIMA filter basically filters the blood removes the toxins takes out excess water and all the excess salts in the cell bio reactor. 

He've got renal proximal tubules cells that basically reabsorb much of this water and salts back into the bloodstream. 

What they don't do is reabsorb the uremic toxins so toxins don't get back. 

The other function the cells do is to activate vitamin D and also some of the immunological protection that the kidney cells providing a healthy body. 

The excess water toxins are then passed through a port into the waste outlet which is connected to the bladder there are certainly challenges that he have had to overcome fundamentally. 

He've had to wait for the state-of-the-art in silicon nanotechnology to be able to provide as the membranes that is required for the device. 

The beauty of the silicon nanotechnology is that we can create super efficient filters.

The filters are so efficient that the device operates on blood pressure alone. 

The implantable version of the device will be the size of a small coffee cup. 

Unlike dialysis this device will provide continuous therapy 24/7. 

The patient will have complete freedom of mobility and in addition they will be able to avoid the challenges of transplants