Crazy
English and Why Foreskin is King
Here are the beakers and there are the microscopes and over there are some Silicon Graphics computers used to create digital models of the projects that researchers are working on. The language is downright befuddling though. Place yourself amidst the alien thought forms of Alpha Gamma Six and try to understand what they are saying and you get the idea. This is a place where the following makes a lot of sense: "The capacity of composite grafts to support chondrogenesis has been investigated using collagen matrices, hydroxypatite and polymer meshes." (translation) At which point, in a highly acceptable, and mutually agreed upon manner, someone might respond, "Spontaneous development of tissue microstructure can arise from fibroblasts reorganizing the extracellular matrix." (translation) This is followed by a lot of nodding and agreement, patting on the back and a stroll over to the High Pressure Nano-Perfusion Bioreactor. Here, the outlets to the Differential Pressure Transducer are fiddled with and the Digital Microindentation System is calibrated to confirm that all that was said was true. Wittgenstein would have a field day.
Gathered with him in a glassed-off section of the lab are research assistants and a post-doctorate colleague. They are in the process of willing a $125,000 confocal microscope to image stem cells growing in a collagen matrix. If the image comes through, Costa and his team will be able to determine how cells that grow in a 3D matrix can emulate heart tissue. "The thing," says Erica Takai, a second year graduate student, as the imaging system fails again, "is that it's supposed to work." The microscope is attached to an imaging laser on one side and a computer on the other. A heavy black curtain blocks out light into the room. And it is hot. Really hot. Throw a laser, a computer and a mercury lamp together in 12-foot by 12-foot room with six stressed-out people and things get uncomfortable. Slowly though, an image appears on the computer screen. This is the first in a series that will appear because what the confocal microscope and the laser do is image layer after layer of the matrix and then stitch it all together again in a 3D model. This allows Costa to see where cells are gathering and how their proteins work together. Successful imaging then allows his team to develop mathematical models for how and why cells align in certain ways which, in turn, could lead to the successfull development of cardiac tissue for heart surgeons to work with. "No, no, this is junk," Costa mutters as he looks at the screen. They fiddle with nobs and speak a slew of jargon about laser intensities and bottomoing out and getting a lot of noise. And then a new image appears. There are two windows on the screen, one red and one green. The green window shows a swirl of tubular cells. The green is a stain that dyes actin, a contractile protein that pulls the cells together on a matrix. The red screen shows the collagen matrix itself, and lets the researchers determine how the cells attach to it. And the cells themselves? They are skin cells from the bounty of foreskin discarded each and every day in maternity wards around the country. Researchers like Costa use it because of the regenerative qualities found in the cells of newborns.
Back
in his office, Professor Mow discusses the importance of functional
tissue engineering. In his view, it is a evolutionary development
of material science and mechanics. At its core, functional tissue
engineering is to ensure engineered cells, tissues and organs to
work normally in human body.
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Index Dance the Bionic Electric Mice with Ears on their Backs Crazy English and Why Foreskin is King |
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Bionic Future: Major Players Genentech, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco. They produce a growth hormone for treating growth hormone deficiency; a tissue-plasminogen activator (TPA) that dissolves blood clots in persons having heart attacks or some types of stroke; a form of interferon used to treat a rare form of immune deficiency; and an inhalant used to treat cystic fibrosis. Genzyme Transgenics Corp., Cambridge, MA, is developing and producing biopharmaceuticals with the help of transgenic animals, or animals that are created specifically to carry a desired gene or trait for use in some form of human therapy. Genzyme Tissue Repair, the maker of Carticel™, the regenerated cartilage shown in INNOVATION: THE MAN-MADE MAN, is another division of Genzyme Corporation of Cambridge, MA. In addition to research in human cartilage production, this company makes biological products used to treat severe burns, chronic skin ulcers and neuro-degenerative diseases. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers are trying to build noses, hearts and other organs or parts of organs on forms called scaffolds. On a small scaffold, they have actually grown heart cells that produce what looks like a heartbeat. Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a biomedical research group has been working on a prosthetic hand that can be surgically attached to an arm and will operate much like a human hand with the use of implanted electrical devices. Stanford University researchers are using autologous nerve cells - a patient's own nerve cells - to grow new ones in order to repair damage to nerves in the hand. Rice University scientists are developing biodegradable polymer scaffolds that organize tissue for transplantation in the bone, nerve and parts of the eye, and are working on blood substitutes. |