Coral Grown to Repair Bone

On a site far from any ocean a man is growing coral in a tank with the expectation it will help heal damaged bone. Unlike animal and human bones, coral is not rejected by the body, according to medical experts at the coral-growing company in Israel’s Negev desert called CoreBone.

The visionary founder is Assaf Shaham who founded his laboratory six years ago at a cost of $2.5 million. He told Ian Lee of CNN that, “In six years of growing corals, I haven’t left these four walls for more than 12 hours—not even once. For me, it’s 100% learning as I go. I take the mother colony, and I cut off a branch of the coral with a diamond saw. Then I glue it to another base made out of cement.”

Lee reports that Shaham’s ecosystem needs constant care to ensure that the water’s salinity, temperature, and chemical make-up are perfect. If there are any variations the coral could die, he said. Workers explain that the fish swimming around each tank are the “worker bees” of the artificial reef. They eat the algae growing on the coral, their feces helps feed the coral, and their movements in the water keep the coral strong.

Shaham’s, ambitious experiment appears to be thriving for, according to the press release, the coral in the lab is growing at ten times the normal rate. Shaham expects to receive a decision about the medical use of his coral from regulatory authorities in Europe and the United States sometime next year. He sells a small container of his coral for $250.