This mad scientist makes ears out of apples

TED Fellow Andrew Pelling is a biohacker, and nature is his hardware. His favorite materials are the simplest ones (and oftentimes he finds them in the garbage). Building on the cellulose structure that gives an apple its shape, he "grows" lifelike human ears, pioneering a process that might someday be used to repair body parts safely and cheaply. And he has some even wilder ideas to share ... "What I'm really curious about is if one day it will be possible to repair, rebuild and augment our own bodies with stuff we make in the kitchen," he says.

I've got a confession.

I love looking through people's garbage.

Now, it's not some creepy thing.

I'm usually just looking
for old electronics,

stuff I can take to my workshop and hack.

I do have a fetish for CD-ROM drives.

Each one's got three different motors,

so now you can build things that move.

There's switches so you can
turn things on and off.

There's even a freaking laser,

so you can make a cool robot
into an awesome robot.

Now, I've built
a lot of stuff out of garbage,

and some of these things
have even been kind of useful.

But here's the thing,

for me, garbage is just a chance to play,

to be creative and build things
to amuse myself.

This is what I love doing,
so I just made it part of my day job.

I lead a university-based
biological research lab,

where we value curiosity
and exploration above all else.

We aren't focused
on any particular problem,

and we're not trying to solve
any particular disease.

This is just a place where people can come

and ask fascinating questions
and find answers.

And I realized a long time ago

that if I challenge people
to build the equipment they need

out of the garbage I find,

it's a great way to foster creativity.

And what happened

was that artists and scientists
from around the world

started coming to my lab.

And it's not just because
we value unconventional ideas,

it's because we test and validate them

with scientific rigor.

So one day I was hacking something,
I was taking it apart,

and I had this sudden idea:

Could I treat biology like hardware?

Could I dismantle a biological system,

mix and match the parts

and then put it back together
in some new and creative way?

My lab started working on this,

and I want to show you the result.

Can any of you guys
tell me what fruit this is?

Audience: Apple!

Andrew Pelling:
That's right -- it's an apple.

Now, I actually want you to notice as well

that this is a lot redder
than most apples.

And that's because
we grew human cells into it.

We took a totally innocent
Macintosh apple,

removed all the apple cells and DNA

and then implanted human cells.

And what we're left with
after removing all the apple cells

is this cellulose scaffold.

This is the stuff that gives plants
their shape and texture.

And these little holes that you can see,

this is where all
the apple cells used to be.

So then we come along,

we implant some mammalian cells
that you can see in blue.

What happens is,
these guys start multiplying

and they fill up this entire scaffold.

As weird as this is,

it's actually really reminiscent
of how our own tissues are organized.

And we found in our pre-clinical work

that you can implant
these scaffolds into the body,

and the body will send in cells
and a blood supply

and actually keep these things alive.

This is the point
when people started asking me,

"Andrew, can you make
body parts out of apples?"

And I'm like, "You've come
to the right place."

(Laughter)

I actually brought this up with my wife.

She's a musical instrument maker,

and she does a lot
of wood carving for a living.

So I asked her,

"Could you, like,
literally carve some ears

out of an apple for us?"

And she did.

So I took her ears to the lab.

We then started preparing them.

Yeah, I know.

(Laughter)

It's a good lab, man.

(Laughter)

And then we grew cells on them.

And this is the result.

Listen, my lab is not
in the ear-manufacturing business.

People have actually been working
on this for decades.

Here's the issue:

commercial scaffolds can be
really expensive and problematic,

because they're sourced
from proprietary products,

animals or cadavers.

We used an apple and it cost pennies.

What's also really cool here

is it's not that hard
to make these things.

The equipment you need
can be built from garbage,

and the key processing step
only requires soap and water.

So what we did was put all
the instructions online as open source.

And then we founded
a mission-driven company,

and we're developing kits
to make it easier

for anyone with a sink
and a soldering iron

to make these things at home.

What I'm really curious
about is if one day,

it will be possible to repair, rebuild
and augment our own bodies

with stuff we make in the kitchen.

Speaking of kitchens,

here's some asparagus.

They're tasty, and they make
your pee smell funny.

(Laughter)

Now, I was in my kitchen,
and I was noticing

that when you look down
the stalks of these asparagus,

what you can see
are all these tiny little vessels.

And when we image them in the lab,

you can see how the cellulose
forms these structures.

This image reminds me of two things:

our blood vessels

and the structure and organization
of our nerves and spinal cord.

So here's the question:

Can we grow axons and neurons
down these channels?

Because if we can,

then maybe we can use asparagus
to form new connections

between the ends of damaged
and severed nerves.

Or maybe even a spinal cord.

Don't get me wrong --

this is exceptionally challenging

and really hard work to do,

and we are not the only ones
working on this.

But we are the only ones using asparagus.

(Laughter)

Right now, we've got
really promising pilot data.

And we're working with tissue engineers

and neurosurgeons

to find out what's actually possible.

So listen, all of the work I've shown you,

the stuff that I've built
that's all around me on this stage

and the other projects
my lab is involved in

are all a direct result
of me playing with your garbage.

Play -- play is a key part
of my scientific practice.

It's how I train my mind
to be unconventional and to be creative

and to decide to make human apple ears.

So, the next time any of you
are looking at some old,

broken-down, malfunctioning,
piece-of-crap technology,

I want you to think of me.

Because I want it.

(Laughter)

Seriously, please find any way
to get in touch with me,

and let's see what we can build.

Thank you.

(Applause)