Australian Science Makes the Regenerating Mouse 762
FruFox writes "Australian scientists have created mice which can regenerate absolutely any tissue except for the tissues of the brain. Heart, lungs, entire limbs, you name it. This is the first time this has been seen in mammals. The potential implications are positively mammoth. I thought this warranted attention. :)"
Wrong countries (Score:5, Informative)
Re:finally (Score:5, Informative)
He's correct....US based (Score:5, Informative)
A search for the researchers name comes up with her working at Penn State, in the good ol' U.S.A.
"Heber-Katz, who is also an adjunct professor in the pathology and laboratory medicine department at Penn's School of Medicine, now devotes about 80 percent of her time to mapping the gene loci that confer these unique regeneration properties and analyzing their patterns of expression."
Oversights (Score:5, Informative)
The lab responsible is in the US not Australia, even though the report comes from The Australian. The paper isn't that parochial, you know.
Also, it sounds like a serendipitous discovery rather than intentional creation. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
As the work doesn't appear to have been published yet, my guess is that it will turn out to be a bit less remarkable than it currently sounds.
Old news and not from Australia!?! (Score:4, Informative)
So what makes this new or Australian?
Re:Skepsis? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Redundant (Score:2, Informative)
from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lorena_bobbit [slashdot.org]
An article from 2 years ago with more info (Score:2, Informative)
A link from 2003, has a bit more to it than the article cited in the original post.
Re:amazing (Score:5, Informative)
In theory yes -- most birth defects have no genetic basis (that's why "thalidomide babies" have perfectly normal children themselves) -- it isn't the information in their DNA that is damaged but rather the fact that their cells were misassembled during development in the womb.
This news dates back to 1998 !! (Score:3, Informative)
Cancer rate increase? (Score:5, Informative)
This will be very interesting to see what happens. growing a new kidney, or hand would be great, as long as it is safe.
Cancer, Hole Plugging, and strength... (Score:3, Informative)
1. Cancer -
Enable easy regeneration, and the organism suffers from more run away cancers. With the need to keep a larger number of complex and different cells running as needed, damaged cells must auto destruct to prevent the rise of cancers.
Free running regeneration leads to tumors.
2. Hole Plugging -
When a large creature suffers a large wound - the number One way for that creature to survive is simply plug the hole as quickly as possible. Scar tissue grows relatively quickly and completely, preventing blood loss and preventing infections. Even with rapidly clotting and healing wounds - infection can kill the organism. The fast patch scar tissue saves life where otherwise a regenerating individual would die from just being slower healing.
3. Strength -
Regrowing a full adult arm or leg requires a lot of energy, the bones may be softer, the muscles weaker. So the limb will be less usefull, and more energy consuming. That works against the survival of the individual.
The human species survival scheme is based upon reproduction rates, not unbreakable individuals.
Being able to reproduce once a month, and birth offspring once a year, sometimes with twins or more, rapidly grows out a human population.
Like smaller organisms, if you make enough copies of yourself - the individual health is not as important. As a social creature, a larger tribe of humans provides strength and protection for the individual. Six Billion+ humans on earth have shown this survival plan to be most effective.
I would love a shot of regenerative juice, as long as I don't die of cancer at age 40. Even if a missing arm would take 5 years to grow back, it would be a welcome ability to the human race.
This isn't really much of a breakthrough... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wrong countries (Score:1, Informative)
Staff
Visiting Scientist
Khamilia Bedelbaeva, MD, PhD
Staff Scientist
Lise Clark, DVM, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dmitri Gourevitch, MD
Stefan Samulewicz, PhD
Alexander Seitz, MD
Research Expert
Xiang-Ming Zhang
John Leferovich
Technicians
Pen Chen
Svetlana Savina
Maja Kragol
Re:unacceptable! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:There is a good reason we do not do human testi (Score:2, Informative)
According to the latest issue of 'Make' magazine, there is a triving community of researchers who have succeeded, and are attempting to hone the process (mostly trying to figure out the magic ratio between palladium doping, heavy water, pressure and heat measurement). Pick up the latest issue; 'Make' is like 'Wired' done by Heathkit.
Re:This is cool and all.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:unacceptable! (Score:2, Informative)
Has Been Done Before (Score:2, Informative)
National Library of Medicine Publication (Score:1, Informative)