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Posts with tag stem cell

DoD establishes institute tasked with regrowing body parts


Apparently not satisfied with simply building robotic body parts, the Department of Defense has now announced a brand new effort that it hopes will one day allow it to regrow actual body parts. Dubbed the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (or AFIRM), the new group will explore the use of stem cell research, among other things, to "reconstruct new skin, muscles and tendons, and even ears, noses and fingers." Or, as the Army surgeon general that'll be overseeing the program puts it: if an animal like a salamander can regrow a lost tail or limb, "Why can't a mammal do the same thing?" Not surprisingly, the institute apparently also won't be hard up for resources, with it boasting a budget of about $250 million for its first five-year period, and it enlisting the help of three universities, including Rutgers, Wake Forest, and the University of Pittsburgh.

[Via Slashdot]

Researchers develop artificial nerve


Regular nerves getting you down? Why not try a bionic nerve? According to reports, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed an artificial nerve which could have the ability to bring damaged limbs and organs back to life. In a study published in the medical rag Experimental Neurology, Dr. Paul Kingham and his team at the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration managed to take fat tissue from adult animals and differentiate them into nerve cells to be used for repair and regeneration. The team will repeat the study with human volunteers, and then develop an artificial nerve constructed from a biodegradable polymer. The "bio-material" will be rolled into a tube-like structure and inserted between two cut nerves, so that regrowing nerve fibers can spread from one end to the other. Next, the researchers hope to create a species of tyrannical man-bots called the Borg, whom they hope will move outward through the galaxy, assimilating all who stand in their way.

[Via Slashdot]



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