In a study from India, kidney transplant patients had crushed donor kidney tissue injected into their thymus - the body's "immune engine room" where cells can be "educated".

BBC: 'Drug-free' transplant hope

Could patients have themselves cloned in order to harvest cells from a genetically-identical embryo, gaining a donor and avoiding the major problem of transplant surgery: rejection of foreign tissue by the immune system?

CNN: GROWN TO ORDER

Three quarters of people who need a bone marrow transplant fail to get one because they cannot find a tissue match.

BBC: Foetus

Before that, he was an officer at Advanced Tissue Sciences, a pioneering biotech in the growth of human organ tissues for transplant.

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Currently, cancer patients are not candidates for face transplants because transplant recipients must take immunosuppression drugs for life so that the body does not reject the donated tissue, Siemionow said.

CNN: Face transplant patient regains self-confidence

Tissue from the cord of new born babies is being recycled by doctors to help patients who need a bone marrow transplant, but who cannot find a match.

BBC: Foetus