[ExI] Is it real or a hoax (Medicine's Cutting Edge: Re-Growing Organs)?

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Mon Mar 24 19:25:48 UTC 2008


On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 7:34 PM, Kevin Freels wrote:
> Real. Certainly. Fingertips aren't a problem. Sometimes they grow back
>  with no help at all. It's when you get into the next joint that you run
>  into problems.
>
>


Brian Wang (futurist) has just posted a 'state-of-the-art' report.
(with further reading links).

<http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/03/enabling-regeneration-in-humans.html>
Quote:
Researchers now understand in detail the steps that occur when a
salamander regenerates a limb and they understand the differences for
human scarring and human fetal regeneration or limb growth. The early
responses of tissues at an amputation site are not that different in
salamanders and in humans, but eventually human tissues form a scar,
whereas the salamander's reactivate an embryonic development program
to build a new limb. Learning to control the human wound environment
to trigger salamanderlike healing could make it possible to regenerate
large body parts. A few years to get really good at making mice
regenerate and then another ten years to make it happen in humans and
get the process approved by regulatory authorities.
---------------

BillK



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