Just before 2002 closed there were a number of firsts in tissue engineering. Teeth, blood vessels, bladders, and muscle tissue were all grown successfully (or with partial success.) in the labs. Stem cell research, a key component of tissue engineering, made a big splash. And a new tool for injecting news cells into tissue was developed.
It may be a decade or more before we see this stuff used commonly in hospitals but, I am looking forward to replacing my fillings and crowns with real enamel and my mother’s synthetic lenes with real, cataract-free ones.