DARPA tissue regeneration project goes Phase II

[docm]

Shades of Zaphod Beeblebrox

DARPA (the DoD's mad science lab) and CellThera (spawned by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute) have gone to Phase II on their tissue regeneration technology project. Phase I "succeeded in reprogramming mouse and human skin cells to act more like stem cells, able to form the early structures needed to begin the process of re-growing lost tissues", essentially in mice (a standard human analog) they've succeeded in reprogramming mouse and human skin cells to act more like stem cells, able to form the early structures needed to begin the process of re-growing lost tissues.

If they succeed in creating blastemas, tissue buds like those seen on salamanders before their limbs grow back, rehab medicine is headed for a massive revolution.

Here's DARPA's mission statment;

The vision for the Restorative Injury Repair (RIR) Program is to fully restore the function of complex tissue (muscle, nerves, skin, etc.) after traumatic injury on the battlefield. These injuries include both kinetic (i.e., penetrating wounds) as well as other destructive injuries (chemical and thermal burns, musculoskeletal injuries, blast overpressure, etc.). RIR aims to replace the current concepts of “wound coverage” by fibrosis and scarring with true “wound healing” by regeneration of fully differentiated, functional tissue.

The program will achieve its goals by developing a comprehensive understanding of the wound environment, including cellular elements, matrix, inflammatory mediators, growth factors, nutrients, substrate utilization, biofilms, and ultimately processes of morphogenesis leading to anatomic and functional restoration. This is an extremely aggressive, milestone-driven program, with a Phase I effort focused on defining the wound environment and generating a blastema in an otherwise non-regenerating animal. This work will be followed by a Phase II effort, which will culminate in the restoration of a functional multi-tissue structure in a mammal.

 

[SPACEINVADOR]

I thought this was very interesting as well;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIu0gB-day0