"Regenerative medicine, regrowing or repairing damaged organs, has become a hot topic. Almost all the attention has focused on stem cells. The idea is to grow stem cells outside the body, turn them into particular types of tissue and transplant them into patients. But a few scientists theorize that a better approach is to induce the same regeneration in people that occurs in salamanders and some other animals. Natural regeneration, which might be accomplished with drugs or genes, would be easier than transplanting, they say. And the tissue would be the patient's own, doing away with the problem of rejection. Even if salamanders' feats cannot be reproduced in humans, those scientists say, studying regenerating animals will at least provide clues for stem cell scientists." Sooooo cool! - Nano |
