We live in amazing times, technology, like modern-day magic, is making dreams reality. While electronic technology has gotten the brunt of public attention for advances in communications and computers, such as mobile devices, roll-up screen, smartphones and tablets, just to name a few, biological breakthroughs are rarely given the same amount of limelight. Why is that? That is a good question, one that ‘big pharma’ board members who sponsor and lobby politicians could answer best.
Stem cell therapies are expensive, mainly because the main source of stem cells today come from embryonic tissue, and the government regulates the collection of that tissue, for good reason. Thankfully, there is another, better source of stem cell material that is readily available from the bone and fat cells in the human body.
It’s complicated to explain in detail, but simple said, doctors take bone and fat cells from a patient’s body, marinate it in a stew of 5-Azacytidine (AZA) and platelet-derived growth factor-AB (PDGF-AB) for a couple of days and ‘bingo’, the cells are reprogrammed into stem cells.
This technique is groundbreaking science that will change the way researchers make and use stem cell to repair and regenerate damaged cells in the human body. In a few years, repairs made to every kind of injury can be possible, like never before. You can read more about this amazing technological breakthrough from the UNSW website, or watch the informative video the the scientist who work on this technique put together, its incredible stuff.
Source – newsroom.unsw.edu.au
