Washington, June 14: Researchers are busy creating microscopic polymer fibres, which will be helpful in rebuilding human tissue and mend hearts.
While using polymers to help grow muscles may sound like science fiction, it’s actually quite natural, Brian Amsden, chemical engineering professor at the Queen’s University said.
Prof. Amsden and fellow workers from the universities of Western Ontario and Toronto, are making attempts to create the technique in which stem cells from fat are put on a polymer prosthetic, which actuates the growth of cell growth and that is later implanted into an individual’s body.
Prof. Amsden said, “I can’t think of anything Frankensteinish about that because everything is you. The only thing that isn’t you is the polymer which is biodegradable and eventually disappears, so all you have left is your own tissues.”
He believes that by the next 10 years, his novel procedure will help a tendon, spinal cord or heart valve regenerate itself after an injury or disease.
The results of the study were presented at the Advanced Foods and Materials Network annual conference in Halifax.
–Agencies–