Victims of organ failures may have access to unlimited supplies of replacement organs in the future if work currently being carried out proves a success.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference heard that work in "tissue engineering" had advanced to such a degree that replacement organs may soon be grown from just one cell.

Tissue engineering aims to combine biology, medicine and genetic engineering to encourage cells to grow into new organs either in the laboratory or inside the patient. If successful it would eliminate the need for organ donors.

The most advanced research to date has been investigating how to replace bone.

Scientists at the USA's Allegheny Hospital in Philadelphia, have succeeded in creating synthetic "bone scaffolding" into which bone cells can grow and produce more tissue.

They hope to use the technique to treat severe bone fractures in the next few years.

Replacing organs such as the heart or kidneys would involve a much more complex process, but researchers told the conference they believed growing live body parts would be possible in the future.