Scientists create skin from stem cells.

The science daily article from 2 days ago:

Artificial skin created using stem cells from the umbilical cord

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131122084407.htm

An important scientific breakthrough will aid the immediate use of artificially-grown skin for major burn patients, since the skin could be stored in tissue banks and made available when needed.

So, Desmond, what do you think ? I know you love this

The, never before, demonstrated differentiaton potential of umblical cord stemcells into epithelial cells is extremely exciting !! This is what Tsuji lab was looking for too (although they were of course looking at IPS cells as a source). How many umblical cords do we throw away daily ? Enough to cure us baldies, that's for sure, haha

Scientists created skin from stem cells and are planning to start a clinical trial in 2014.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=42dTVVqBg1s
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23817131

Of course this is exciting news because of the close relation to hair grafts. Remember how Jahoda said that the main remaining issue was to figure out how to increase gene expression by creating the right environment (so tricking the cells into thinking they're in the body). The researchers in this study solved that problem: "In this work we have studied the capability of HWJSCs to differentiate in vitro and in vivo to oral mucosa and skin epithelial cells using a bioactive three-dimensional model that mimics the native epithelial-mesenchymal interaction. To achieve this, primary cell cultures of HWJSCs, oral mucosa, and skin fibroblasts were obtained in order to generate a three-dimensional heterotypical model of artificial oral mucosa and skin based on fibrin-agarose biomaterials."

This is of course pretty much what Jahoda is trying to figure out. Hopefully this milesone this will be useful in the race for the first artificial human hair transplant. And either way, clinical trials starting with this in the upcoming year, that's quite exciting and this has to be good for the hair regeneration quest too.

*EDIT* more about this fibrin-agarose biomaterial used (it was developed a few years ago by the same scientists) : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...51616111001718