regenerative medicine tagged posts

Novel ‘Living’ biomaterial aims to advance regenerative medicine

an illustration displaying a human body surrounded by graphical representations regenerative medicine through nanotechnology
A new biomaterial developed by Penn State engineers mimics a key building block of human tissue, extracellular matrices, which act like scaffolding and enable cells to heal after damage. Credit: Sheikhi Research Group/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

A biomaterial that can mimic certain behaviors within biological tissues could advance regenerative medicine, disease modeling, soft robotics and more, according to researche(rs at Penn State.

Materials created up to this point to mimic tissues and extracellular matrices (ECMs) — the body’s biological scaffolding of proteins and molecules that surrounds and supports tissues and cells — have all had limitations that hamper their practical applications, according to the team...

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World-first Trial of Regenerative Hearing Drug is Successfully Completed

World-first trial of regenerative hearing drug is successfully completed
Mean pure-tone air-conduction thresholds in the treated ear of all patients that completed 12 weeks follow-up (N = 42). Presented timepoints are baseline (black), 6 (blue) and 12 (red) weeks, error bars indicate standard deviations. Pure-tone thresholds are displayed in decibel hearing level (dB HL), frequency in kilohertz (kHz). Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45784-0

Researchers at UCL and UCLH have successfully completed the first trial of a therapy designed to restore hearing loss. The REGAIN trial, the results of which were published in Nature Communications, was the first study of a treatment aimed at restoring lost hearing, focusing on a drug with the technical name gamma-secretase inhibitor LY3056480.

The researchers found that while the t...

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Old Skin Cells Reprogrammed to Regain Youthful Function

Research from the Babraham Institute has developed a method to “time jump” human skin cells by 30 years, turning back the aging clock for cells without losing their specialized function. Work by researchers in the Institute’s Epigenetics research program has been able to partly restore the function of older cells, as well as rejuvenating the molecular measures of biological age. The research is published today in the journal eLife, and while this topic is still at an early stage of exploration, it could revolutionize regenerative medicine.

What is regenerative medicine?

As we age, our cells’ ability to function declines and the genome accumulates marks of aging. Regenerative biology aims to repair or replace cells including old ones...

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Researchers Regrow Frog’s Lost Leg

Normal African clawed frog. Credit: Pouzin Olivier

For millions of patients who have lost limbs for reasons ranging from diabetes to trauma, the possibility of regaining function through natural regeneration remains out of reach. Regrowth of legs and arms remains the province of salamanders and superheroes.

But in a study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists at Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute have brought us a step closer to the goal of regenerative medicine.

On adult frogs, which are naturally unable to regenerate limbs, the researchers were able to trigger regrowth of a lost leg using a five-drug cocktail applied in a silicone wearable bioreactor dome that seals in the elixir over the stump for just 24 hours...

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