Yes, Today is a good day for science since i found two really important developments in medical science that will transform people's lives in the very near future.
News 1: Medicine's Cutting Edge: Re-Growing Organs
Imagine re-growing a severed fingertip, or creating an organ in the lab that can be transplanted into a patient without risk of rejection. It sounds like science fiction, but it's not. It's the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, in which scientists are learning to harness the body's own power to regenerate itself, with astonishing results.
A powder sprayed on an amputated finger regenerated the finger in four weeks.
That powder is a substance made from pig bladders called extracellular matrix. It is a mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons and it holds some of the secrets behind the emerging new science of regenerative medicine.
"It tells the body, start that process of tissue regrowth,Somehow the matrix summons the cells and tell them what to do".
Regeneration will soon revolutionize transplant medicine. Transplant patients, instead of waiting years for a donated organ, will ship cells off to a
lab and wait a few weeks to have their own re-grown.
Tengion is a company that regrows any organs you want !, see more details here, tengion.com
CBS News article here
News 2: World's First Full Face Transplant
Advancing from heart transplant surgery, now doctors have performed a face transplant surgery.
For 24 years Pascal Coler's face drew so many taunts in the street that he retreated to his home to live the painful life of a recluse.
All of that changed in January when he got the call: They'd found a face donor.
After 16 hours in the operating room, Coler emerged with a new face.
Coler's bone structure has not been altered, so he looks as he might have looked if his face had never been ravaged by disease.
And he's happy.
"The operation revolutionized my life," Coler said.
"People no longer stop and stare at me in the street. They don't make fun of me anymore."
"I'd love to find a wife," Coler said. "Settle down and have children."
ABC News article on this topic here.Labels: interesting, medicine, news, science |
