Been away? Growth on the way
Thursday, March 26,2009
It seems still science fiction but scientists have put a first step to make this possible. As part of the plan of the U.S. military to soldiers lost limbs, just to grow then again.
Scientists have step 1 of this project has been implemented. They have succeeded in parts of the human skin to turn into something similar to blastema. A lump of cells without any function that can be used in whole body parts to change. The scientists are now to step 2 and that is make this lump of cells in a piece of the muscle changes.
The Worcester Polytechnic Institute is January 1-year contract of $ 570,000 DARPA to perform research that allows new tissue to grow. "The plan is to replace lost muscle tissue," says biotechnologist Raymond Page.
This project is just one of the projects running in the "DARPA's Restorative Injury Repair" program. A program that aims to restore tissue complex. These soldiers have lost during fighting.
Muscles are well known in their ability to restore itself. They are broken down and rebuilt every time you go to a gym is. Only when there is too much tissue is lost, grow them anymore. Instead, you get scars. The researchers hope this time to get a different result by adding fresh muscle to grow outside the body.
The next step is to now unusable muscle in cells to change. They can achieve this by ensuring that the cells will contain actin and myosin. Proteins necessary to ensure that there is a Cytoskeleton. If this is successful, they try to grow these cells in a network of small wires made of organic material. Next problem is then how these cells back into the human body to be developed.
In short an ambitious project which still needs to happen before it actually will be. The first step is the American army can find almost nothing go wrong, right?
For more info: Wired
Image: Limb Regeneration Laboratory
Source: zipf.nl
Thursday, March 26,2009
It seems still science fiction but scientists have put a first step to make this possible. As part of the plan of the U.S. military to soldiers lost limbs, just to grow then again.
Scientists have step 1 of this project has been implemented. They have succeeded in parts of the human skin to turn into something similar to blastema. A lump of cells without any function that can be used in whole body parts to change. The scientists are now to step 2 and that is make this lump of cells in a piece of the muscle changes.
The Worcester Polytechnic Institute is January 1-year contract of $ 570,000 DARPA to perform research that allows new tissue to grow. "The plan is to replace lost muscle tissue," says biotechnologist Raymond Page.
This project is just one of the projects running in the "DARPA's Restorative Injury Repair" program. A program that aims to restore tissue complex. These soldiers have lost during fighting.
Muscles are well known in their ability to restore itself. They are broken down and rebuilt every time you go to a gym is. Only when there is too much tissue is lost, grow them anymore. Instead, you get scars. The researchers hope this time to get a different result by adding fresh muscle to grow outside the body.
The next step is to now unusable muscle in cells to change. They can achieve this by ensuring that the cells will contain actin and myosin. Proteins necessary to ensure that there is a Cytoskeleton. If this is successful, they try to grow these cells in a network of small wires made of organic material. Next problem is then how these cells back into the human body to be developed.
In short an ambitious project which still needs to happen before it actually will be. The first step is the American army can find almost nothing go wrong, right?
For more info: Wired
Image: Limb Regeneration Laboratory
Source: zipf.nl