It's the stuff of sci-fi and really
crappy awesome horror films, but now it looks like regrowing damaged skin and limbs isn't so far-fetched -- in fact, it's already happening. A certain 69 year old Lee Spievak lost half an inch of finger to an aggressive model plane blade, and doctors had little hope for the appendage. Lucky for Lee, his brother Alan works in the field of regenerative medicine, and sent him some powder (which lee calls "pixie dust") to apply to the finger. Four weeks later Lee had grown back the entire finger, as good as new. The pixie dust is actually modified cells scraped from the lining of a pig's bladder cleaned into a general-purpose tissue generator -- the cells basically tell the body to grow instead of scar. Doctors have high hopes for the cells, for everything from amputees to burn victims to cancer patients. We're just waiting until they can program these cells to grow that third arm we always wanted.
Update: These claims are
being called "junk science" by some folks in the UK. We don't know who to believe, but the claims above are certainly sensational, and the critics are right about calling this some Nobel Prize-winning research if is indeed legitimate, and therefore it's certainly odd that this research has bypassed the mainstream of science. Dr. Stephen Badylak, who mailed his brother the cells, says "we're not smart enough to figure out how to regrow a finger," and credits this freaky success to nature doing its thing. Science fight!
posted May 1st 2008 5:01AM
looks like the hand wants to give us the finger.
This is all fine and dandy, but when can I apply this to my most prized appendage?
yeah.. you have to cut it off first...
Just as soon as you've lopped the end off with the blade of a model aeroplane...
I don't suggest using it for that purpose. Who knows, it might actually shrink.
"I heard if you cut off an extremity it'll regenerate a little bigger. Don't believe it."
- Trolls in World of Warcraft.
My girlfriend tells me I have a third leg, I wonder how a third arm would make her feel...
"Just as soon as you've lopped the end off with the blade of a model aeroplane..."
Done! Now where do I get the pixie dust.
Err...you'll probably have to probe a pig's bladder for that. Probably should have mentioned this before...
I think it's time to make sweet, sweet man-love to a vacuum. That should bump you up the list.
As long as you don't mind a fingernail on the end...
Too bad the first generation of this stuff apparently doesn't do manicures.
YouTube has the story here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H73dfmFhMNM
Wow, this actually isn't a Rickroll. I was going to vote you down without clicking.
Luigi needs this sort of help:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Nintendo_Super_Squad/index.php?p=129724
That's the stupidest cartoon I've ever seen... no offense.
I wouldn't mind some of this dust... i have some serious scarring from an old motorcycle accident... Could do with a (almost) normal looking hand. :)
Umm... It'll only do that if you open up all the scars and pour this dust on it every day. It also stinks pretty good, so you'd better be really sure you don't want those scars.
Alexander, are you 'tarded or something??
why would somebody with a disfiguring scar NOT want to put this on, because it *might* stink like your brown eye probably does?
btw, you have no idea what the hell your talking about.
What would happen if you snorted the stuff? Would it regrow brain matter on wasted celebrities?
Hey you fuhhhh...this guy! Man...PJK is my best friend we been through...dude, is Second Slice open?
Nope. My half-decade of binge drinking reigns supreme. Dman!
"Regro" implies that there was original brain matter to begin with.
God damn... that's amazing stuff. It's definitely an exciting age we live in...
Eh... still sounds like there's a whole host of issues that one would have to work out, namely with the excessive number of cell divisions needed to regrow an entire limb, it's actually more accurate to say those cells are "older" rather than "younger". More divisions = more errors in cell replication = more chances to make oncogenes (cancer genes) = cancerous limbs!
But I really do hope this stuff works. Sounds awesome to grow a limb!
Yes, yes, a 99% chance of success, a 1% chance of uncontrolled cell replication spiraling into the creation of a massive finger empire, with legions of fingernail badniks out to conquer the world. You've got to take the good with the bad.
meh, third arm!?!?
i'd grow my third leg (if you catch my drift)....
No drift catching in here ;) haha
That is truly amazing though, i know the end of the finger is only small portion of the body, but to grow back all the nerves AND a fingerprint to match is simply phenominal!
This is actually a VERY OLD news. in 2006 on TED conference professor Alan Russell (the founding director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, at the University of Pittsburgh) gave a presentation involving THIS exact case.
This is the link to that presentation:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/142
Being a medical geek (yes, we exist - he he) I find exiting and reminding me of the times back in 1980's when first personal computers start appearing. Apple II and III, ZX81, Commodore, etc. Now look where we are 25 years later. Now look at this research and try to extrapolate where biomedical technology will be in 20 years time. Oh, yes - be advised that once they start, the pace of advancement of biomedical research will make computer revolution seems like a bad dream where everything happens at 1/10th the speed.
My advice: strap on your belts ladies and gentlemen, it will be one kick-ass ride!!!
I thought I'd seen this somewhere before. It would be great to get an update on this guy and see how his finger is holding up (vague pun not intended).
I hope he paid his royalties to the Starfish.
I hope so, otherwise there will be a lot of aggrieved starfish. And we don't want that, do we kids?
It's MAY the 1st, noobs.
May Fool?
some dude on youtube.com is claiming and videoing his finger growing back due to multiple daily application of Neosporin.
Not talking this down, but if there is results, why not try bigger/better things immediately????
I read something like this before.
Here is the link:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/extracellular-matrix.htm
Someone get some of this sh-t to Tony Iommi for is Heaven and Hell tour in '08 plz.
No way man, tragedy is the source of his power. Also Satan.
Third arm? Forget that. Looking at the popularity of Viagra I can guess what body appendage this stuff will be used to make grow.
Any idea if this will work on facial scars? This could make dermabrasion and a myriad other procedures for facial disfigurement better, cheaper, and safer.
In the world of cosmetics, better and cheaper will NEVER be featured in the same sentence.
Vinay,
it is my understanding that this technology could be used for repairing of all sorts of tissues (read: deep wounds, but not re-growth of entire bodyparts like amputated legs - yet). The team that developed this technology is apparently planning to test this on a person who lost a part of her esophagus tissue due to the cancer. This should make a part of the pipe simply regrow.
However the "problem" is if a person already have a scar that would mean that in order to use this technology a surgeon would need to first remove the scarred tissue (read make an artificial wound) and then use this technology to let the tissue grow and repair itself without scars. (This only works on fresh wounds that have not started to heal by itself)
This sounds gross, and no one knows yet how tissue would heal - so if this is used for scar removal - one might potentially end up with even bigger scar. I expect that this will first be used on people with fresh wounds for a good while before specialised plastic surgeons start charging arm and a leg for removing scars.
I also expect that this might open op a whole new (and very unsightly) way of correcting various body defects by cutting the body part off and then using this (or perhaps some other technology) to re-grow that part.
But I believe that this should be possible to fix unsightly scars. But I am engineer, not a doctor and if I needed such procedure - I would start inquiring with forward thinking plastic surgeons in my area.
Ah Pigs....Is there anything they can't do for us?
First bacon, then sausage, pork chops and ribs, and now this!!!
fly?
don't forget insulin and heparin!
i dont trust this how does it know when to stop growing i dont want to ruin my shocker hand!
So this guys brother just pops up with this stuff from no where, the guy uses it and gets his finger back. WTF? Why aren't they using this stuff, and why haven't we heard of it before?
Amazing nonetheless!
So would this help John Bobbitt?
This is actually the wrong picture. It's suppose to go with the story about Microsoft's plan to offer Office as a subscription service.
blog correction:
The "pixie dust" was extracellular matrix thoroughly stripped of all cells. NO CELLS. That's the most critical and magical feature about it all. No foreign tissue rejection. No fibroblasts to form scar tissue. EM alone provides the biochemical signals to promote regen over scar formation.
You ever see the Spider-Man cartoon where that doctor tries to regrow his arm, and turns into a giant lizard instead? Yeah, I think you see where I'm going with this. You'd better keep a pocket knife and some barbecue sauce handy if you live in the London area.