REDUCING STEM CELL MIGRATION/ADHD TO FOCUS HEALING
“Stem cells are smart and will only stay in one place to repair damaged cells and tissues until called away for more dire situations requiring attention. Like little ADHD multi-tasking mechanics/repairmen, they run all over the body where the body has decided (through a very complex set of devices) they are most needed. This results in stem cells dedicated to mending bones, suddenly running off to fix the heart, pancreas, etc before finishing the job on the broken bone. While this is a great holistic and triage approach (paying attention and dedicating resources to that which needs it most), it makes it difficult to access how powerful and successful stem cells are at resolving a single issue/condition in the body.
A lot can be said for repairing many areas in the entire body simultaneously, in fact, this is one of stem cells’ greatest strengths…but it doesn’t sit well with the concept of “completing one job before moving on to another.” Scientists have devised a new way to make stem cells stay put and finish the job they were directed to do. No more stem cell ADHD.
In the case of serious and terminal diseases, this is an excellent innovation. If you can fix that which is going to fail first, you can then move on to what’s next. It also makes commercialization of stem cells easier. Nobody picks up their car with the damaged exhaust from the mechanic and he says: ‘I got the exhaust half done but realized your distributor, struts and alternator were shot so I fixed them instead.’ But your body is not a car.
This may be a wonderful innovation or it may be another instance of scientists trying to aggressively control a natural healing system in the body. I think it’s both and the result is we now have one more extraordinary tool for fighting disease…and like any tool, it will be used well and for the right reasons and results and also used poorly for the wrong reasons and results. Ultimately, our understanding of the modus operandi of stem cells has increased, our ability to manipulate stem cells has increased and the everyday miracles of stem cell treatment results are getting better and better understood and more common place all the time.” – David Granovsky
Delivering Capsules of Stem Cells Helps Repair Injured Bones
“One trouble with stem cells is that they don’t stay put. When doctors put cardiovascular progenitor cells in the heart to heal damage from a heart attack, the cells are whisked away in the bloodstream in a matter of hours.
Researchers, and a couple of renegade doctors in Colorado, have shown that stem cells do help bones heal. While bones, even the intricately shaped jawbone, have been grown in the lab, researchers have been somewhat stymied in their efforts at the seemingly more banal task of using stem cells and grafts to help heal major fractures, bones removed in surgery and other hard-to-fix injuries inside the body.
That’s where materials science comes in.
University of Rochester biomedical engineer Danielle Benoit encapsulated bone progenitor cells in a hydrogel wrapper and placed it on the bone she aimed to heal. Benoit hoped the wrapper would result in fewer stem cells being washed away and more sticking around to do the work of healing the bone…”