No more naked mice!!!

SAN FRANCISCO - Research showing that bald mice can grow hair after being implanted with a type of stem cell could lead to a cure for baldness, a group of scientists says.

The project marks the first time that "blank slate" stem cells were able to induce hair growth, said Dr. George Cotsarelis, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist and co-author of the study.

And this is why I keep saying stem cell research will be the next 'big thing'.

Just think, twenty years from now, if you lose your hand, all you need to do is attach a small container of stem cells to the stump, and voila, your hand is regrown.

Hehe, seeing as these stem cells came from mice, I think it would be funny if/when they start human experimentation people ended up with mouse fur on their heads.

I think they'd use human stem cells for humans (total guess though)....which is obviously controversial.

Pftt. Controversial shmontroversial. Not only can they get stem cells from the expelled placenta AFTER a healthy birth (i.e. no deaths/abortions needed), but they can also get them from bone marrow, last I heard.

On top of that, they've still got about nine strains out there, and NOT using them isn't going to bring back the zygotes that spawned them.

Idiots who pay too much attention to the letter of so-called "Christian" moral law ignore the fact that something that is ALREADY never going to be a human baby could cure the diseases and damaged tissues of tens of thousands of people.

Be nice now if they'd stop worring about growing hair on mice with their billions of dollars and find a cure for cancer.

Sorry, I thought I read that they were planning on using these stem cells (which DON'T come from the placenta, bone marrow, or fetuses) from animals on people. I got the impression they thought because these cells were so basic they would work interspecies.

And furries of the world rejoice

This is very big stuff. Stem cell research needs to progress unhindered by the squeamishness of religious conservatives.

Totipotent stem cells can come from a number of sources, not just embryos. (Not fetuses, those have already progressed too far.) Pluripotent stem cells are almost as useful, and come from existing tissues. (Bone marrow has been mentioned, as well human fat is a rich source of them.) In theory such cells (as I see it) could be potentially even more useful since they arleady HAVE the patient's DNA. (No worries about rejection of cloned organs.... after all, as far as your immune system is concerned it's YOUR tissue.)

This research is about so much more than curing baldness. If one can implant cells that will grow into new hair follicles.... it should also be possible to implant cells that will grow into a new heart or liver.... or repair damaged areas of an existing organ. It's the same basic process, just a difference of degree.

Well like I said, that was a total guess. I could be wrong about that. I'm just thinking about how the genetics would probably be incompatible. But it's good to hear that there's so many sources, hopefully then it won't be held back by anti-abortion people.