#February2011

Stem Cell Gun Blasts Away Massive Burns. Amazing.

Welcome to the fucking future! It’s a glorious place to be. Even if we haven’t figured everything out, goddammit we’re capable of some truly amazing things. Case in point: the stem cell gun.

Kotaku:

Most of the damage from serious burns doesn’t come from flames. It comes from infections brought on by a lack of protection due to damaged skin. The lengthy healing process associated with major burns can leave patients open to such infections for months, even with proper care and wound dressing.

Doctor Jörg Gerlach of the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has created a method that has patients regenerating new skin in days using stem cells.

Now before everyone flies off the handle, these aren’t the embryonic stem cells that have been so controversial over the past decade. These are skin stem cells harvested from the patient themselves; adult stem cells.

The cells are applied via a spray mechanism over the area damaged by the burn, and the results speak for themselves.

Fucking amen. I don’t know if I’m happy or disappointed that these cells aren’t culled from embryonic cells. Controversy!, it excites me.

Hit a jump for a video of the STEM CELL GUN in action.

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