Tissue Regrowth and Combat Veterans

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Recent studies and research by the Defense Department are encouraging. While it may sound a little alarming at first, the Pentagon has recently created an Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to join in stem cell research and development. Along with researchers at Rutgers and Wake Forest, scientists and researchers have joined efforts to use soldiers’ stem cells to regrow skin, muscles, tendons and bone that have been injured or lost through combat.
Army Surgeon General Lt. General Eric Schoomaker points out that researchers were captivated by the ability of a salamander to regenerate a severed tail. Taking the idea from amphibian growth and development, researchers are hoping to use the same concept to help soldiers replace lost tissues damaged by combat.

Shoemaker also said, "The team will work to develop techniques to salvage and reconstruct damaged limbs, hands, fingers as well as facial repair of ears and noses, to [and] help in cranial reconstruction of severe head injuries." Several combat veterans have already undergone treatment, and one veteran Marine is waiting for a new human ear that has been generated from his own stem cells and grown on the back of a mouse.

Early clinical trials planned for later in 2008 will involve the harvesting of fat cells from patients, and then transplanting them back into the body to pad areas that have been damaged by explosions. These studies use adult stem cells and are not derived from embryonic stem cells, which promotes encouragement and development of additional research.

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