Dr. Christiano New Hair Multiplication Method?

[Justinian]

I came across this in a NY times article. Does anybody know anything about this? Google doesn't show anything when searching for it.

"Some treatments in development hold particular promise for women. Angela Christiano, a hair geneticist and Columbia University professor of dermatology, is hoping to begin clinical trials in a year or two on a procedure in which she dissects hair-follicle stem cells, grows them in the lab until she has several million, then injects them into the scalp, where, a very small study done with a human skin model has shown, they induce new hairs.

This stem cell therapy needs only a dime-size donor spot on the scalp: 50 to 100 hairs, as opposed to the bloody, painful four-to-five-inch strip of 1,000 hairs typically required for a hair transplant.

“It’s been, I would say, kind of the holy grail in the field to be able to find something that is less invasive, less surgically intensive and can capitalize on the natural properties of these hair stem cells,” said Professor Christiano, who herself suffers from alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes partial or total hair loss.

Her hope is that the procedure (she has helped start a company named Rapunzel to develop it) will eventually become another lunchtime cosmetic treatment. Once a patient has had her cells harvested and cultured, they could be stored indefinitely; then, after giving her doctor a month’s notice (the time it takes to grow the million needed), she could pop in for injections. Costs would likely be on par with hair transplants, roughly $10,000 and up."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/fa...for-women.html

[hosney7]

If its real

Its amazing!!!!

[noisette]

Good find ! Thank you

[Swooping]

Interesting. I wonder what led her to focus on cell culture. She was mainly focused on a genetic approach, gene discovery, genetic linkage, phenotyping etc. She has contributed to some great findings mainly on other hair loss related disorders than Androgenetic Alopecia. She is one of the brightest individuals in my opinion.

[Sogeking]

This would be the real deal. If they succeed through the trials. Dr. Christiano is collaborating with Dr. Jahoda's team. Nuff' said.

Although have to check, she said they would be usong stem cells, tjought it would be follicless.


Mobile.

[hellouser]

For women......

Sigh.

[Seuxin]

5-10 years ?

[NeedHairASAP]

to me, it reads more like:

"this is something that would be nice, which we are working towards" rather than, "we know how to do this already"

[Hemo]

Beginning clinical trials in 1-2 years means this probably won't be a viable treatment for close to 10 years, unfortunately. Even if offered sooner, the pricetag is pretty restrictive.

[FearTheLoss]

lol I would love if this came out in 10 years. This is essentially the holy grail, and I don't think the pricing is unreasonable.