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Nanotechnology is emerging essay
Nanotechnology is emerging essay
Nanotechnology is emerging essay
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Regenerative medicine targets the conservation and development of organ function. The modification of tissues is obtained by linking living cells with materials that work as scaffolds to support cell generation. Nanotechnology is the means that feeds the material structure that simulate biological ones and additionally provide a direct delivery system. The functionality of nanotechnology for regenerative medicine is primarily due to its small unit size according to the International System of Units, one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The unit size allows for the technological apparatus to navigate the bloodstream and target and fix damage cells in tissues. Tissue engineering uses nanotechnology for tissue regeneration in order to fix damage tissue. In order to succeed tissue engineering utilizes two different methods: in vivo or in vitro regeneration of living tissue. Both methods use Nano scale scaffolds that are loaded with cells in order to regenerate a damage cell in the organ system. The scaffold can also be loaded with different molecules to assist in cell function lik...
At the moment, the main objective for scientists and engineers is to develop surgery into a minimal invasive method and nanote...
Brendan Maher, in his article “How to Build a Heart” discusses doctor’s and engineer’s research and experimentation into the field of regenerative medicine. Maher talks about several different researchers in this fields. One is Doris Taylor, the director of regenerative medicine at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. Her job includes harvesting organs such as hearts and lungs and re-engineering them starting with the cells. She attempts to bring the back to life in order to be used for people who are on transplant waiting lists. She hopes to be able to make the number of people waiting for transplants diminish with her research but it is a very difficult process. Maher says that researchers have had some successes when it comes to rebuilding organs but only with simples ones such as a bladder. A heart is much more complicated and requires many more cells to do all the functions it needs to. New organs have to be able to do several things in order for them to be used in humans that are still alive. They need to be sterile, able to grow, able to repair themselves, and work. Taylor has led some of the first successful experiments to build rat hearts and is hopeful of a good outcome with tissue rebuilding and engineering. Scientists have been able to make beating heart cells in a petri dish but the main issue now is developing a scaffold for these cells so that they can form in three dimension. Harold Ott, a surgeon from Massachusetts General Hospital and studied under Taylor, has a method that he developed while training. Detergent is pumped into a glass chamber where a heart is suspended and this detergent strips away everything except a layer of collagen, laminins, and other proteins. The hard part according to Ott is making s...
In the article “Pinpointing Cancer Fight,” Liz Szabo states the uses of nanotechnology and how researchers are attempting to use this advancement to fight cancer. She defines that nanotechnology is a type of technology that creates devices on an atomic level; this equipment can allow people such as researchers to use its ability to detect cancerous cells as well as treat them. Szabo remains a neutral tone as she states that while some are against the idea of using nanotechnology since there are many risks, others are optimistic that it may lead to transformational results. She presents a list of some products developed through nanotechnology and explains its usage in addition to mentioning the failure of those nanotech products. Szabo provides
Regeneration is a process in which tissue molds itself into an exact replica of an injured or severed part. The process of regeneration depends on different factors such as the environment and the development of the organism in question (Br, 1955). Regeneration occurs in several steps and the organism must have the ability to perform each one for successful regeneration with minimal loss of necessary function. First, after a wound is made muscular contraction closes up the wound (Pellettieri et al., 2010). Next a blastema, a group of undifferentiated cells, forms and will differentiate into the missing parts. Lastly the undifferentiated cells go through epimorphosis where the lost parts are formed by the blastema (Reddien & Sánchez Alvarado, 2004).
The human body endures a great deal of wear and injury during its lifetime. It is for this reason that the body has several tissues that are capable of regeneration. Bone is one of those tissues that receives extensive use so it is necessary that it is strong in order to carry out its functions; however, it will occasionally face injury. Although our bones are capable of regeneration, a new method would help the elderly and others that have a more difficult time healing after injury. I viewed a “TED Talk” lecture, which discussed a new way of regenerating bone with the help of our own bodies. Molly Stevens, the head of a biomaterials lab, presented “A New Way to Grow Bone” where she discussed a new technique called “in vivo bioreactor”. She also answered why this new procedure is beneficial. Researchers like Stevens are constantly trying to find innovative new techniques and they do this by asking questions. The question that Stevens presented in the video was an intriguing one: “Can we recreate the regeneration of bone on demand and transplant it?”.
Wang, K., Wu, X., & Huang, J. (2013, February 28). Cancer stem cell theory: therapeutic implications for nanomedicine. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3589204/
Bone tissue engineering (BTE) plays an important role in treating bone diseases related to osteoporosis and other orthopedic treatments. Although several methods are used in orthopedic surgery, some bone transport methods such as autografting and allografting have a certain number of disadvantages. Both are expensive methods and they can be exposed to infections and diseases. Therefore, in stead of using these potential risky methods, bone tissue engineering process are used to treat in orthopedic treatments. In general, both tissue engineering and bone tissue engineering have major constituents including stem cells, scaffold, bioreactors and growth factors.
What if there was a cure for cancer or a treatment for spinal injuries? Would you support the research? What if there was a way that you could repair damaged nerves. Some believe that stem cells may hold the answers to some of these questions. What are stem cells and why should you or I even care about them? Some believe that they are a miracle treatment waiting to happen while others believe that stem cells are highly immoral. Why does so much controversy surround the issue? Why is the conversation of stem cells feared by some and praised by others? To some stem cells are the medical hopes for the future, something for us to hang on to as we do battle with major diseases that include cancer, Parkston’s disease and spinal injuries. To others stem cell researchers are murderers who are trying to play God’s hand. A many have pledged their support to stem cell research including a few well known celebrities. Reeves’, who was best known for his role in the early Superman movies, and J. Fox two well-known celebrities, have pledged to stem cell research, both have created a private fund for the research of stem cells. This celebrity however has not swayed everyone to support stem cell researches cause. Just as there are supporters of stem cells there are those who believe that the use of stem cells is immoral. Since the first stem cells were separated there have been doctors, religious groups and even some political figure head have shown their opposition for stem cell research. Even with the knowledge and promise that stem cells show many of those who truly oppose stem cells have not changed their mind. The question is are their reasons good enough to halt the research of stem cell or are they just holding back what will soon be inevi...
...Boland, Thomas Trusk, Gabor Forgacs, and Roger R. Markwald. Organ Printing: Computer-aided Jet-based 3D Tissue Engineering. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
A real-life example of its application in the human body is in wound repair. The main focus of tissue engineering in this application is in artificial skin to treat burns but it can also be used in various other dermal diseases. An example of this is the Advanced Tissue Sciences Dermagraft, which is a 3 dimensional human neonatal dermal fibroblast culture that has been grown on a biodegradable scaffold and has been cryopreserved (Nature Publishing Group., 2014). The main function of a scaffold is to direct cell behaviour such as migration, proliferation, differentiation and maintenance of phenotype (Amoabediny, Salehi-Nik, & Heli, 2011). The use of this Dermagraft is in the treatment of foot ulcers that have developed as a side effect of long – term diabetes. According to clinical trials, significant healing occurred with this material especially when the Dermagraft cells were alive and fully functional.
The quantity of organs available for transplantation is already far less than the demand, and the demand may grow substantially in close to future. For this reason, we have to think how organ function might be replaced in the future. The obstacles to applying new technologies and now those obstacles might be overcome in the developing of new approach for organ replacement. the obstacles of organ replacement might be addressed if various technologies could be pieced together in a way that exploits the advantages of each technology. Thus, nuclear cloning (the transfer of a nuclei from somatic cells of the individual to be treated into primitive enucleated cells (SCNT), allowing the reprogramming of DNA) could be used to generate embryonic stem
Researchers from the University of Southampton propose that gels made from clay may administer the right environment that would stimulate stem cells to regenerate lost tissue such as cornea, bone, skin, heart, spinal cord, liver and pancreas. Clay particles attract molecules to bind together. Scientists propose that will be able to use the clays encouragement to get stem cells to grow new tissue. Researchers first approach is to regenerate bone lost to cancer or hip replacement failure. If researchers are successful, then stem cells can be brought to a whole other level. Stem cells could be applied to burn victims or to people suffering from diabetes or parkinson 's disease. Clay particles are what could be needed to stimulate the process at a particular point of injury. There are two major challenges for the purpose of basic stem based therapies. The first major challenge is being able to hold the stem cells at the right location. Researchers propose that clay particles gelled in water can injected into the body and held at the exact site of injury eliminating the need for surgery. Clay particles also interact with polymers which are used in scaffolds, which stem cells grow on. Researchers hope this will improve the scaffold’s strength to preserve the support at the site of injury until regeneration is done. The ability of clay to overcome these is huge(Life Science Weekly). Also
Organ printing or use of fast prototyping, additionally characterized as added substance layer-by-layer bio-manufacturing, is a rising changing innovation that has potential for surpassing conventional printers for strong framework based tissue designing (Pace). Organ printing has certain focal points: it is a computerized approach that offers many different pathways for adaptable reproducible large scale manufacturing of tissue designed items; it produces concurrent 3D situating
Nanotechnology includes nanorobots which are so small that they can be injected into the human bloodstream after which the nanorobots can do investigations or repair at cellular level. Nanorobots could optimize the delivery of pharmaceutical products, these means that medicines which are targeted on a specific type of cells can be delivered to only those cells by the nanorobots. The robots can attach to the cells after which they can inject the drug into the target cells. This could be a great breakthrough for cancer treatments such as chemotherapy because there is a minimal chance of injecting healthy cells with the drug and therefor negative side effects can be avoided.
The field of regenerative medicine encompasses numerous strategies, including the use of materials and de novo generated cells, as well as various combinations thereof, to take the place of missing tissue, effectively replacing it both structurally and functionally, or to contribute to tissue healing[29]