Regenerating new limbs

The field of tissue engineering has become a sort of hot topic in recent years as more and more research is being directed towards finding therapies that utilize the body’s natural ability to recover from injury.  While the ability to completely regrow limbs reliably may still be out of our reach, Dr. Stephen Badylak thinks he has found an answer.

You may have heard of Badylak recently in his use of “Pixie dust”, basically powdered extracellular matrix, to regrow his friend’s brother’s fingertip after it had been cut off.  While the finger did indeed grow back, Badylak’s discoveries started way before this point. According to the article, Badylak has confirmed the use of extracellular matrix from non-human animals as having the ability to regrow major tissues.  The use of his extracellular matrix idea helped to heal major esophageal injuries and regrow other tissues.

Currently under development is a device that combines the use of a bio-dome that mimics the condition of embryonic development and stem cells in order to regenerate mammalian limbs.  The project was still unfunded as of 2011, but the idea shows promises and is a step in the direction of regenerative medicine.

This article was of interest to me as I recently toured a regenerative medicine clinic where they were working on the same problems of regrowing tissues and limbs.  The idea of using a person’s own body to aid in repair seems a natural step and I believe it will be possible many years down the road.  It caught my eye that this article was in a non-scientific magazine and was written for an audience who may not be familiar with this topic.  This just bridges another gap in the field; helping the general populous to understand the recent developments and to throw their support behind new research developments.

http://discovermagazine.com/2011/jul-aug/13-how-pig-guts-became-hope-regenerating-human-limbs/article_view?b_start:int=3&-C=