Regenerative Medicine Help for Soldiers

http://www.mirm.pitt.edu/news/article.asp?qEmpID=456

Currently, The McGowen Institute for Regenerative Medicine is working closely with the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research to attempt to restore function to hands of soldiers who have lost fingers. The main focus of the research institute is to use mammalian extracellular matrix as a template to recreate tissues. Effectively, through this procedure, the research institute attempts to recreate the fetus' ability to heal wounds. Although this research lab has been successful in regrowing portions of muscle in soldiers with muscle loss due to explosives, the possibility of regrowing a finger is much more difficult as it contains nerves, bones, skin, and blood vessels. In order to regrow this muscle, extracellular matrix from a pig bladder or intestine is placed at the wound site. To isolate the ECM, the cells are scraped away so the collagen and growth factors remain. These growth factors have been known to recruit stem cells to the site of the wound. After a few days, the body's cells with replaced the scaffolding tissue. This treatment has only been successful; however, when the ECM is placed to regrow muscle damaged in between two joints.

I am interested in designing prosthetic technology. With techniques such as this one developed by the McGowan Institute, it may be possible to use living tissue as a material to develop such prosthetic instruments.