Stem cell research is arguably one of the most controversial yet important fields of study in modern medicine. Stems cells are a type of cell found in the body that can reproduce indefinitely and can develop into any type of human tissue. The effective use of stem cells could mean the treatment of some of the world worst diseases and disabilities. The problem is, traditionally the most prominent way of harvesting healthy human stem cells is extracting them for aborted embryos or growing them in a petri dish. This method has long been objected due to the nature of aborting a cluster of cells from forming to their full potential, a human being. Fortunately harvesting stem cell though embryos is only one of the many current methods for harvesting stem cells. Due to the moral objection to some forms of stem cell harvesting and the misinformation of society, stem cell research has been wrongly deemed “immoral” and “dangerous.” Subsequently, the government has suppressed promising research and powerful treatments that use stem cells, even though it is now possible to extract stem cells from the human body without the involvement embryonic stem cells.
Dr. Jörg C. Gerlach at the McCowan Inst. for Regenerative Medicine is on the cutting edge of such “controversial” research. He has devised a method for quickly regenerating vast amounts of damaged human skin extremely quickly and effectively without the use of invasive surgery. It’s called the Skin Gun. The Skin gun is essentially a more advanced version of an artists airbrush. It work by spraying a high pressure a solution of stem cells harvested through the healing skin of the patient own skin that has been damaged by burns or other such ailments. Severely burnt or damaged skin can be extremely fatal due to its slow healing process and its’ susceptibility to major infection. Using traditional methods healing and replacing damaged skin can take months and is very prone to failure due to the condition of the patient and how fragile newly regenerated skin can be. Dr. Gerlach’s method however, takes under an hour and a half for the procedure and can completely heal massive amount of damaged skin in the matter of days. The problem is, due to the suppression of stem cell research and the reluctance to allow the employment of stem cell treatment in medical facilities, Dr. Gerlach’s skin gun has only been used on a twelve patients and is being held from further testing that would allow it to be used widespread in medical facilities across the globe.
Source Article:
There is such promise in this field too. What a shame.
ReplyDelete