Wake Forest Researchers Swap Skin Grafts For Cell Spraying 123
TigerWolf2 writes with this excerpt from a Reuters story carried by Yahoo: "Inspired by a standard office inkjet printer, US researchers have rigged up a device that can spray skin cells directly onto burn victims, quickly protecting and healing their wounds as an alternative to skin grafts. ... Tests on mice showed the spray system, called bioprinting, could heal wounds quickly and safely, the researchers reported at the Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum."
We live in the future. (Score:1)
Spray-on skin. Printed blood vessels. Nanobot-delivered cancer killers. Wasn't all this science fiction just a few decades ago?
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Right now its still in the lab, along with everything else you mentioned.
I would say that it is still science fiction today.
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It's in the lab. That it exists at all puts it out of fiction and into reality.
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So I guess Jules Verne never did write science fiction since just about everything he wrote about was being worked on by the scientific community?
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Niven's dystopian landscape in this case should not be mistaken for a genuine prediction. I enjoyed the book, but honestly Niven's intention in this case was surely no more than to create an entertaining story!
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Ok, sure, 90's and even early noughties. But seriously second-hand organs can't be a growth market for more than a handful of years,
At last... (Score:2)
The Team Fortress II medigun technology is revealed!
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The device is cheap, but the cartridges ... (Score:4, Funny)
... will bankrupt you.
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That's where the Chinese cartridge comes in...
Be sure to read the label:
Warning! Do not use for burns around the eyes or you may obtain unexpected results.
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That's where the Chinese cartridge comes in...
Be sure to read the label:
Warning! Do not use for burns around the eyes or you may obtain unexpected results.
While I know you're making a squinty-eye joke, I wonder if skin tone would carry over too.
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Re:The device is cheap, but the cartridges ... (Score:4, Funny)
That's where the Chinese cartridge comes in...
Sure, if you want skin with melamine [wikipedia.org] in place of melanin [wikipedia.org].
Re:The device is cheap, but the cartridges ... (Score:4, Funny)
Then again, I know a guy who works in tissue engineering whose job is to "harvest" mice, as he calls it. Keeps their heads in a jar above his desk. Apparently, they bob around all day with a smiling expression.
You have to get your hands dirty for a lot of science...
Re:The device is cheap, but the cartridges ... (Score:5, Funny)
I know this one "person" who has to make sure their subject gets through a maze using a specilized tool. They motivate the subject by offering a tasty morsel and the subject usuallu complies. The subject sometimes breaks out of the maze right before they terminate the subject in a temprature controlled sterilization procedure. It is a pain because they have to plan an event to make the subject think that they succeeded in escaping, when in fact they didn't.
There is a lot of mess when it comes to making sure the Science gets done.
Re:The device is cheap, but the cartridges ... (Score:5, Funny)
Er, so what does your programmer buddy who works on the WGA team at Microsoft have to do with this discussion?
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But hey, your points of data will make a beautiful line.
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At least you made a neat gun!
I mean, seriously, the mice who are still alive will really appreciate it.
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The cheese is a lie!
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I heard that they get them from Disney. Most of them are Mickey Mouse stunt doubles.
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You have to get your hands dirty for a lot of science...
But the science got done and we made a neat gun for the mice who are still alive!
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I'd rather be a poor person than a dead burn victim.
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... actually might be cheaper than ink ones [technomaly.com].
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It works bitches! [xkcd.com]
First developed by an Australian (Score:1, Informative)
It's nice that the summary failed to mention the first person to achieve this was Dr Fiona Wood [wikipedia.org] from Perth.
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It's nice that the summary failed to mention the first person to achieve this was Dr Fiona Wood [wikipedia.org] from Perth.
Probably because the article doesn't mention it, either.
Re:First developed by an Australian (Score:5, Informative)
The story here from Wake Forest is apparently a successful test of using an inkjet to print directly on wounds using multiple cell types. The group reported these results at the Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum [regenerati...dation.org] which took place the last few days. Who else happened to be at that forum? Avita Medical, where Dr. Wood still sits on the board.
Your fibroblasts cartridge is low... (Score:3, Funny)
Seems better in so many ways (Score:4, Insightful)
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Hmm. Refine this enough and I could see this being used to remove scars and blemishes.
Cut out the offending patch and slap on something new.
Definitely a boon for skin cancer too. Just excise (er... ok, flay) the area and spray on a replacement. Of course, we'd need to do this in layers since it's usually more than the top layers here.
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Finally! My true calling is found.
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"Hmm. Refine this enough and I could see this being used to remove scars and blemishes.
Cut out the offending patch and slap on something new."
Cut out the tattoo and print a new one.
Act now and we'll throw in for free... (Score:3, Interesting)
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As long as you're using printing technology to place cells over the wound, why not add pigments and voila! Instant tatoo!
I'm not a skin expert, it's my understanding that the top layer of skin cells are completely dead and sloughing off, so you couldn't just spray pigment onto healthy skin and expect it do do anything besides rub off. More likely, you'd have to remove the epidermis if you were doing this intentionally and not as a skin graft (in which case the skin has been removed and that's the problem.)
So it wouldn't be instant, you'd have to burn off the skin, which would be far more painful than a regular tattoo.
Anyway,
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Why doesn't this article have a "Darkman" tag?
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And then cringe in pain
Go Deacs! (Score:1)
The hometown of Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, has a whole section of its downtown devoted to start-ups developing new cutting edge medical technology. Ironically it is the same location where cigarettes were cranked out by the billions.
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Oh yeah: ACC! ACC! ACC!
Imagine spraying it where it doesn't belong (Score:2)
Something tells me (Score:2)
It wasn't much fun to be those mice.
The future is now (Score:1)
Borderlands (Score:2)
I've been playing too much Borderlands.. While reading the article a voice kept screaming in my head: "Strip the flash! Salt the wounds!"
And soon to follow... (Score:1)
Ringworld (Score:2)
Earth (Score:2)
a bad place to be anything other than human. Though it can also suck to be human.
Regenerative medicine growth (Score:1)
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What would 2 inch thick skin feel like
like an enormous birthmark.
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Does it make me tree hugger to feel bad for the rats they must have used to test this.
I mean you'ld have to be a bit sadistic to want to burn living animals for a living.
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I mean you'ld have to be a bit sadistic to want to burn living animals for a living.
Or just care about helping your own species.
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That's a great point. Humans are exactly like mice.
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You're right, scientists ARE all one person! Aww I can understand why you're so bitter, you probably were one of the rats huh? No wonder you think scientists are all one person, to you, they all look alike!
The funny thing is, all the other rats got anasthetic! hahaha we just wanted to torture you because you look so goddamn stupid, I don't even believe in god yet somehow I believe he put you here to be tortured.
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Those are good jobs to keep the psychopaths out htere from making that their hobby, make it thir job and they become a productive and safe member of society, or they turn into "Barry the Chopper"....
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Re:interesting concept (Score:4, Interesting)
My little sister actually had a summer internship with the Wake Forest Center for Regenerative Medicine. One of the things she would do is basically give puncture wounds to mice. After this experience, she apparently didn't want to be a researcher anymore.
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All in the name of science! [theonion.com]
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Sounds like it might be almost as effective as "Administered the death penalty to enemies of the state"
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While I get the idea of putting the dirty work no one wants to do off on the intern it's really a shame that it discourages people from going into medical research. Maybe these companies should look towards their future rather than the comfort level of their current employees (in terms of pawning off the shit jobs on interns).
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On the other hand, someone has to do those jobs.
Then find someone suited to the work. Society turns its nose up at people who torture animals and pull the wings off of flies, but a job like this sounds like a win-win situation - the sociopathic tendencies get directed somewhere useful where they won't harm anyone and regular people don't get turned off from high-level science just because they can't stomach some of the grittier parts.
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Gotta disagree. The "scientist" who can't handle the "grittier" parts isn't really a scientist. If you're doing a thesis about pulling the wings off of flies, and you've never actually pulled the wings off of flies, then you're a fraud, plain and simple.
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Gotta disagree. The "scientist" who can't handle the "grittier" parts isn't really a scientist. If you're doing a thesis about pulling the wings off of flies, and you've never actually pulled the wings off of flies, then you're a fraud, plain and simple.
Except that's now what the research is about. They do research about how to heal the fly or re-attach the wings or make prosthetic wings. You might as well argue that any research on rats is fraudulent if the researcher didn't build the cage the rats are kept in.
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The cage is extraneous, and you know it. If the "scientist" is researching how to heal, but is unwilling to ensure that the wounds, ailments, or whatever are precisely administered, then the "scientist" is a fraud. You can't hire some chump off the street to come an and make random cuts on your mice, or randomly select and dismember the flies, or whatever. Research requires control - meaning the scientist controls every aspect of the research. Every aspect.
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You can't hire some chump off the street to come an and make random cuts on your mice,
Who said anything about "some chump off the street?"
Research requires control - meaning the scientist controls every aspect of the research. Every aspect.
Lol, you've now categorically eliminated the job title of lab assistant. I couldn't have demonstrated the silliness of your position any better myself.
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Then find someone suited to the work.
Exactly. I don't disagree with you. The GGP was talking about their sister who decided she wasn't a fan of research after having to do some of the crap work involved. Someone suggested that it was unfortunate to make the interns do this up front. My response was simply that it was better for her to learn this (that she was in the wrong field) now, rather than after she had gone through years of school and all the attendant costs.
And as an earlier reply stated, if one can't handle the grittier parts of
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I work as a consultant, in each field no two things are like. And I agree she's been handed a crappy job, probably without proper context. "just puncture these mice, FOR SCIENCE!" which translates quickly to "Well, if this is science, then it sucks."
I've been dating Phd student researching muscle metabolism and the effects of certain proteins trying to slow down muscle degradation (mostly targetted at seniors), hating the medical industry by
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Oh wait, so you're saying that $CARREER equals $SINGLEEXPERIENCE ?
No, sorry, that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that $CAREER is roughly equal to the sum of numerous (different) $SINGLEEXPERIENCEs. If any one of those $SINGLEEXPERIENCEs is so bad (in your opinion) that you lose interest in $CAREER, maybe you're not right for that $CAREER (or, to put it another way, maybe $CAREER isn't right for you). As your girlfriend demonstrates, when you really have passion for something, you find a way to deal with the crap because other aspects are just that fulfilling.
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Society turns its nose up at people who torture animals and pull the wings off of flies, but a job like this sounds like a win-win situation - the sociopathic tendencies get directed somewhere useful where they won't harm anyone
Unfortunately, it doesn't really work this way. Instead, they're just going to become more sociopathic (or whatever) because they're reinforcing these behaviors.
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Erm, no. It's a horrible yet important job, it should be done by people with an interest in reducing any pain on the animal, which doesn't even need to be awake, rather than somebody who actually wants the animal to feel it.
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If that ever does happen I'd have a 2 part questionnaire for him to fill out. Question 1, do you like horribly violent movies like Saw or Hostel? (Y or N) Question 2, do you like musicals? (Y or N) if he says yes to both... serial killer. thank you venn diagrams.
Ow, come on. Surely you wouldn't pass up on the opportunity to do a Voight-Kampff? If the lab tech turns out to be batshit crazy...you'll have to fire him, with all the hassle that goes along. If you can convince him that you are batshit insane...he
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If it makes you feel better, I'm sure they can anesthetize the mice. Hell, for this purpose they could breed a braindead and pain-immune strain if it was really that big an issue.
("lab rat" is a misnomer)
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I mean you'ld have to be a bit sadistic to want to burn living animals for a living.
I think I can imagine who did those experiments... [geekologie.com]
Re:interesting concept (Score:5, Insightful)
Feeling bad about the rats is fine, it's normal.
But it's disingenuous to say they want to burn animals for a living. What they do for a living is try to build a device that could save many lives and help many more reduce their suffering. They are required to test them on animals before humans, it's part of the job. It's not a part of the job they like, but it's necessary so they do it. Could there be a sadistic few? Sure, but it's unlikely. There are far easier and better paid jobs that allow you to be sadistic to animals than research assistant at a lab. Rats are cheap, you can buy or even catch all you like. Getting your PhD to satisfy your sadism toward rats is taking things a bit far.
I would guess that most of them feel bad for the rats as well. But they can justify it with what they consider a higher purpose, reducing death and suffering. It might not be justifiable to you, but it is to them. It doesn't mean they like doing it.
And I respect your opinion if you don't think it's worth it. Just please recognize that both sides of the argument have merit, and don't assume those that think differently than you on the issue are amoral or hate animals, but probably only disagree with you over which is more important.
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I once had a fascinating talk with a girl who worked at one of those labs and was given the job of killing the mice before they're analyzed.
Apparently in that lab it was the job they gave to all the newbies when they first arrived.
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To clarify not one of the labs in TFA, just a lab where they used mice for some experiments.
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Do they still swing them by the tail and throw them against the wall or have methods improved since the '80s?
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At the risk of triggering Godwin's Law ... (Score:3, Interesting)
They are required to test them on animals before humans, it's part of the job. It's not a part of the job they like, but it's necessary so they do it.
At the risk of triggering Godwin's Law I feel I must point out that Animal Rights applied to a medical experiment context is what led the NAZIs, in about three steps, to medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.
Step 1: To avoid experiments on animals the experiments were performed on "mentally defective" humans - i.e. inmates of mental hospitals, ini
Ugh, you Godwinned all over this thread... (Score:2)
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Step one and step two in your logic are huge steps, and contain every thing that is immoral in your conclusion.
Convincing the public that a group of humans are subanimals, as you put it, is the only step needed to get from any point to your step 3. And has nothing to do with the medical experiments - it's arbitrarily thrown in at this point as an assumption, as is the assumption that the disabled are defective in step 1.
As logically true, in two steps:
If you snort milk into your nose, then take these 2 step
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I got to stop you right there....this might be a bit off, but I am game to get modded down if needed.
Being a programmer I tend to see things a certain way when it comes to unit testing.
Give me my parameters and i deal with it. If we allow to set up a company full of fake invoices to test a POS, then we have created a fake company....but to use a newly created POS to test in a LIVE environment is not acceptable....we are responsible for the results should anything happen, even when we are ready to install, w
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If you own snakes, then you feed them a lot of mice too.
Some folks kill the mice first-- some folks don't.
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You're obviously stupid. I can't help with that, but, if it doesn't hurt you too much, I ask you to try think about just one thing: you don't need to be left to feel pain for your skin to be damaged or to heal.
Re:interesting concept (Score:4, Interesting)
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She felt no compunction about stealing US inventions to help her "invention".
"r Wood turned to the emerging US-invented technology of cultured skin to save his life, working nights in a laboratory along with scientist Marie Stoner."
Re:interesting concept (Score:4, Interesting)
Besides, what Woods should really be recognized for is not the spray-on delivery, but instead the advances in culturing techniques. This was the real breakthrough, IMO.
Of note, Woods got a lot of criticism for using her methods without it going through clinical trials. They're still not out of clinical trials, AFAIK...