Spray-on Skin, AFIRM's Research Leading Regenerative Medicine
 

AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, has some lofty, but important goals. As covered by DailyTech previously, the goal of the Army-led organization is to help and heal our wounded fighting men and women, allowing them to return to the productive lives they gave to their country. Some of the current goals, limb regeneration especially, may seem lofty, but such things rarely stand in the way of human determination for long.

Some of the stem cell research done by AFIRM members is already showing promising results. Stephen Badylak, a pathologist at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh's announcement last year that a magical “pixie dust,” created from pig bladders, regrew the severed fingertips of two patients left a mark in the medical community. The dust contains molecules that signal growth factors, overriding the typical scar tissue response when a limb is severed. In just six weeks, the fingertips grew back completely, fingernails included. Badylak is presently doing further research into regrowing more complicated extremities such as arms and legs.

http://www.dailytech.com/Sprayon+Ski...ticle12197.htm