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Wake Forest Researchers Swap Skin Grafts For Cell Spraying
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."
Spray-on skin. Printed blood vessels. Nanobot-delivered cancer killers. Wasn't all this science fiction just a few decades ago?
The Team Fortress II medigun technology is revealed!
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
... will bankrupt you.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Instead of implants you are suggesting spraying on an inch or two of skin onto the breast? What would 2 inch thick skin feel like? And what about the nipple?
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.
all hail the power of Science!
It's nice that the summary failed to mention the first person to achieve this was Dr Fiona Wood from Perth.
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.
Your fibroblasts cartridge is low. Would you like to connect to the HP Medical Printing website to order refills?
Looks like it cuts down on scarring as well, and it seems that grafting requires adding an additional injury from the donor section. Seems sensible not to do this.
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"....
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Yeah, it would be a little disconcerting if during the meeting where they were trying to figure out an impartial way to decide who gets that job of burning the mice and the new lab tech jumps up furiously waving his hands saying "oh, me, me, choose me, pretty pretty please, choose me!" 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.
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)
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
As long as you're using printing technology to place cells over the wound, why not add pigments and voila! Instant tatoo!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
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...
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.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
All in the name of science!
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.
This sentence no verb.
Ixnay on the ArryBay the Opperchay. We put a lid on the irthbay ertificatecay but if they get wind of the Opperchay thing we'll have a hell of a time containing the fallout.
If you own snakes, then you feed them a lot of mice too.
Some folks kill the mice first-- some folks don't.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
It's already been pioneered, done and patented by Fiona Woods here in Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Wood. But we all know the USians only give a crap about their own patents, no-one else's. Just look at the shit-fight CSIRO had to go through to get money out of companies in the USA to honour their WiFi related patents.
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.
What would 2 inch thick skin feel like
like an enormous birthmark.
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
The new mace. Spray the mugger a new pair of sealed-shut eyelids.
It wasn't much fun to be those mice.
you had me at #!
Yeah, but come on. Who wouldn't like to have "Administered puncture wounds to mice" on their resume?
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
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."
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
So inflicting agony on a creature is fine, as long as it's to help someone else? You should come visit me, I've got some stuff I want to try that'll help my partner out. Don't count on going home again...
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.
To clarify not one of the labs in TFA, just a lab where they used mice for some experiments.
Yeah, while the premise is the same, implementations are not. The device being tested in the US is not the same as the delivery mechanism Woods uses, hence no invalidation for prior art.
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...
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I mean seriously, DAMN, this is like, Star Trek level shit. Seriously. Spray on skin? What next? I love the 21st century.
I was wondering how effective it might be if it was possible to excise a scar and then to spray on a layer of new skin.
Might it be useful to prevent hypertrophic scarring and keloids?
That's a great point. Humans are exactly like mice.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Can I borrow your dog?
:x
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, initially those who were believed to be so brain-damaged or mentally deficient that they were less aware than animals.
Step 2: For politically convenient reasons, propaganda campaigns spread the idea that certain classes of people were subhuman - and by extension sub-animal: Jews, Gypsies, Communists, Anarchists, Labor Unionists, Gays, ...
Step 3: Large numbers of the classes in Step 2. were, for the convenience of the war effort, incarcerated in concentration/labor camps (where their assignment was mainly to be out of the way, and dying was a "good" way to accomplish this). At this point, being used in medical experiments was a way to complete that assignment and contribute to "humanity" in the process...
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a very scary read. It shows that the NAZI movement started out with pretty much the full set of New Age Counterculture "virtues" (mysticism, animal rights, vegitarianism, body-beautiful health fads, back-to-nature, non-hierarchical consensus decision making, ...) and how these ideas coevolved into what now are considered such monsters that even looking at what they were like is considered anathema.
(Another example: Consensus decision-making evolves into totalitarianism in the presence of the normal fraction of psychopaths. First diversity and dissent paralyze group action. Then social pressures for conformity are developed to break the deadlock. These grow to be nearly irresistible. Then an individual or small group withholds consent except when the rest of the population does what they want. Finally the population follows their new "leaders" automatically, since that's what will finally happen anyhow.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
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).
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Sounds like it might be almost as effective as "Administered the death penalty to enemies of the state"
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
On the other hand, someone has to do those jobs. It's probably better in the long run that she found out she doesn't care for it now, rather than after she's put in all the time and money to get through med school.
I've been playing too much Borderlands.. While reading the article a voice kept screaming in my head: "Strip the flash! Salt the wounds!"
If it is going to save a human life, then yes, you can "borrow my dog".
ps: actually cat, I don't have a dog.
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.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Aren't scientists the ones pushing that we're basically just intelligent animals? A bunch of B.S., obviously. But it's still okay to breed generation upon generation of innocent animal to suffer some of the most excruciating deaths and tortures for the sake of making it convenient for us after 5 years of testing. If we're all just a bunch of animals, and the end of life is just a great nothingness, we should just accept the fact that we're going to die anyway and take it like the animal we are. I do not share this belief, and instead, have compassion. If I had the choice between having my legs amputated, or having them saved due to the deaths and long tortures of thousands of helpless animals, I would go with the former. Heck, before we even did all of this the world seemed to get along just fine.
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.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Print your own penis extension. Erg, I hope they don't use mouse cell for mine! Hmmm, maybe donkey cells or...?
Unfortunately foreskins are stolen at birth just so "burn" victims can be helped. Millions of men don't have sex as nature intended because of greedy pharma companies.
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.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
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 $CAREER, they're probably not cut out for $CAREER. On the other hand, the rest of the benefits of $CAREER may easily outweigh the crap. The weighting functions are completely individual and change over time.
Of course the sister shouldn't have felt obligated to continue on in that if she didn't feel suited for it. There are plenty of career options out there. There's almost no reason to "suffer" through a career you don't like. One exception would be larger responsibilities (e.g. feeding your children, paying debts, etc.) and whatever it is you want to do doesn't pay enough to meet them.
we should just accept the fact that we're going to die anyway and take it like the animal we are.
We should have and use compassion but not use intelligence to try to expand our lifecycles if we can? You're an idiot.
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.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
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 might leave by himself. Either that, or he'll think it's some kind of twisted bonding experience...
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Actually mice are chosen because they have immune systems remarkably similar to humans, more so than many apes in some cases. And yes, the skin is considered part of the immune system.
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 the way they threat their "subjects" even though she's very passionate about science and wants to make a difference, she'd having a hard time to cope how they treath "humans", so I can really imagine being innocent and unexperienced, being thrown into the field like that without being able to create context and having been thought all those "moral" courses and other things to justify it it might've been a crude experience.
That doesn't say anything about being "fit for $CAREER" though or wasting study. One experience isn't representable for an entire field.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Do they still swing them by the tail and throw them against the wall or have methods improved since the '80s?
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.
Granted, the girl that decided to quit after (presumably) one rotten $SINGLEEXPERIENCE was probably acting on insufficient data. But it may have been so repulsive to her that all the previous interest and excitement she had for the field was gone. I'm not saying her decision to quit was right or wrong. But assuming she made the choice which was right for her, (and she doesn't later regret that choice) is it not better to find out early, when she can still easily change majors to something more suitable, or a year into her first job, when that change (while still possible) is much more difficult and costly?
One experience isn't representable for an entire field.
No indeed. But one experience can make or break someone's will to stay in a field.
I beleive they starve the mice of oxygen. Hanging is too good for them. I would have liked to have seen gladiator style battles to the death.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
Given that one can be a professional sadist, and it's a fairly easy yet well paid job, I can't imagine anyone who actually wanted to do it professionally would take up science instead to indulge their kicks.
I want my bouncy Kzin.
Your post is intriguing and sparks my interest, I ordered the book right away from Amazon... It's a great subject about the social aspects of why horrible stuff happens, and way too many people just believe 'it will never happen to them'. With the context of the science of memetics these social interaction become even more interesting if you think about the idea living a life of it's own beyond the control of the people who started it. In my opinion understanding some process is the first step to be able to prevent that process from reaching the same (inevitable?) conclusion.
P.S. Screw Godwin, this is mostly on subject and Nazi's should not be a de-facto conversation killer otherwise we can never learn from mistakes from the past...
a bad place to be anything other than human. Though it can also suck to be human.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
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.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
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.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
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.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
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.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Depends on what you are looking for in the animal - if the chemistry is not overly important, the most used method nowadays is probably gassing with carbon dioxide, which is a quite humane death. If you are interested in chemical/physiological details, decapitation is sometimes used. Never seen any lab where something like in your story would happen, if not for ethical reasons, simply for scientific control and reproducibility.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
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, we need to run scripts, we make backups to consult later in case anything goes wrong, and we have a save point so to speak.
Using life (any life, not just human) to test with , is not acceptable....to me. All the discoveries we have had, over the years thanks to other animals, should have been made on humans instead as the guinea pigs, not only would this force the pretesting to a higher level, but we would also have a more respectful view of life towards other animals.
I always said, we should only be so lucky as to have aliens invade and treat us like their food source (such as in Stargate Atlantis with the Wraith) to start knowing what we are doing to all the other species on this planet. We have the technology to make fake foods, binding molecules together to make synthetic but nutritional foods, that we do not need to kill anymore.
Alas, I am alone in this point of view, and being a free spirited person when it comes to live and let live, I guess I am speaking for nothing....this new technique is amazing, but to puncture mice or burn them to test if it works, makes it pretty sick when you think of it. Give me the meds anyways if I have 3rd degree burns all over my body, and we'll deal with the consequences later, if I die, well learn from it, but don't be so righteous a race to think you are above all.
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.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Do a search for "institute for regenerative medicine" and see how many of these now exist.