Stem cells can help the body repair after injury
Surgeons try their best to repair torn cartilage and flesh in serious injuries. But what if they got a little help from the body itself? What if the body could generate its own repair mechanisms to replace vital tissues?
It could happen. New stem cell research being done at Johns Hopkins is investigating the ability to use stem cells to help the body repair itself after injury.
Our colleague Frank Roylance gives us the scoop on how science is progressing on the stem cell front after he spent some time earlier this week at the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit, held here in Baltimore.
The Hopkins' lab, run by researcher Jennifer Elisseeff, is also working on technologies that will enable stem cells to reconstruct fat and muscle lost to surgery or trauma. Scientists are also testing a kind of contact lense that can help a patient's own stem cells rebuild a damaged cornea. After years of promises from scientists that stem cells can transform modern medicine -- they are getting closer to such practical applications.
"People are working on the basic science of things and trying to understand how tissue develops but also at the same time developing practical technologies that can be used in the clinic today," Elisseeff said.
Fascinating stuff.
AP photo
