Regeneration of Limbs

You have a good point. I think that playing God isn't right, but that would be like altering your dna to have super strength and sonar. you are very right, but it would be cool. I guess that organ regeneration would be harder because it would be harder to place a virus, and the cost would be huge, but i beleive that very tiny robots or bacteria may help with building the virus, as may another idea of mine, a dna simulator. it would more than likely require like seven terabytes of ram, and the computing power of a machine the size of an office block. but it would be cool, dont you think? another problem i would guess is like a random virus traveling the blood stream, and causing an arm to grow inside you (ouch). just an idea, albeit an interesting one. and who knows, maybe our morals will change in ten years.

this is me. forgot to login.

DNA building machines already exist and have been around for years. Companies like GenScript off the service to researchers. Basically, you pour in the raw ingredients (Nucleic Acids), shake, and a program executes the desired code, constructing strands of DNA or RNA to your specifications.

Okay, I am being a little cheeky, but the process is not a mystery and done routinely.

I heard recently that if you take 5 different sponges and put them in a blender and then back into a friendly suitable environment they grow back into the five species they originated from. They just seem to know what they are doing.

Then again, there are people who can get a bucket of nuts and bolts started. Wish I where younger, Ky.

Bravo!

Juice

Nice thought but too complex if you really want results in the here and now. It is like wanting to play "god" but missing the tool kit. It is the thought that counts, I know, and I had similar thoughts when I was your age.

Many years later, when the human DNA was mapped I thought of finding the genes that make teeth grow. I still do for that matter. Instead of going to the dentist, go to a lab and have that gene triggered and just re-grow the shiny whites.

Take the pill and a few days later all teeth fall out. This has happened before when the milk teeth fell out so nothing new there. Then supplement your diet with appropriate trace elements and about 4 weeks later all should be in place.

Now to the reality:

Even if such a procedure would be successful you would have the dentist lobby up in arms and they would prove, faster than you can say tooth ferry, that this method would cause your brain to explode or have other unwanted side effects.

Even if it would take 12 months, I would participate in any thing to make this happen. It beats having root canal treatment which I am going through since weeks now. I have a lady dentist who has the softest approach one could imagine but I just hate being internally interfered with and leaving the surgery with a fat face.

You are young enough to start on the research so just do it. It's not gonna happen in my lifetime but good luck anyway, Ky.

Couldnt do it now, correct. missing the tool kit, i think that is a good analogy. i am glad i can have your guys's advice, and i was just suggesting.

another thing i would imagine would replace prosthesis are robots:

since robots react to their environment, or a stimulus, a robot arm would respond to nerve impulses in the severed nerves, and react accordingly. still missing the tool box ( i like that!), but just an idea.

Ky, you wrote, "Take the pill and a few days later all teeth fall out."

You don't need a pill for that!

Hint: I only brush the teeth I want to keep. ;-)

One has to start with a clean slate. The ones I still brush are the ones that will keep my dentist in a job. She has a new BMW, nice machine actually. I shudder to think of how long this is going to take.

I could call Mike Tyson names and it would all be good in seconds. He is insured, isn't he?

YI-I-KES! Ky.

Don't know that you'll find this interesting, but take a look at this talk (actually broken up into 4 FLV files on YouTube) by Dr. Thomas Levy in which he mentions the detrimental effect of root canals. It sounds too incredible, but he says he has the conclusion well documented in a book he wrote about how our dental health ultimately affects our overall health. Then take a look at this video, for good measure. :)

I will not discuss my health in a public forum. If I could contact you by private mail I would do so but you are an anonymous guest.

"Fear eats soul" and that some try to make money while pursuing that process is shameful, never mind the validity of courses. I am aware of an infected tooth doing damage to the overall body.

The vitamin C treatment is known to our family and was applied for minor ailments. The cost and duration of the treatment were prohibitive. The family of that Kiwi bloke should be congratulated for standing up against the medical lobby.

No, I am not in denial, just turn hypercritical when I read Mr Levy's non verbal language. A true enlightened or knowledgeable person would stand and speak in a dignified manner and not come over like a year 9 student having problems with the subject.

I will discuss the matter with my dentist and react accordingly. Even after such a deluge of bad news I have never felt better and expect to live a hundred years.

Why not become a member of CR4 and communicate at a level that would allow a bit more scrutiny? Hope all goes well for you too, Ky.

Well, I am not a geneticist nor a biologist (although, my major was biology). Genetics is a fascinating subject as are the function of viruses.

I think that the foundation of your idea has some merit. However...

The problem is targeting the right cells. Normally, viruses use the various proteins at the cell membrane wall to bind to. They do this in a lock and key fashion. So certain viruses bond to specific receptor cites on the cell membrane. If that protein is absent, blocked, or denatured the virus will not be able to bind and therefore inject its RNA through the cell membrane.

The virus capsule is specifically designed to bind to specific proteins. So, while you specify which type of cell protein to bond to, you really can't discriminate between specific cells of that class of cells. For instance, all epithelia cells are a class of cells that have the same types of protein receptors.

In this instance, regenerating an organ or limb requires specific cells to respond to the "regenerate" command. So if you are trying to regenerate a digit, there is no way to target the specific cells at that location. The virus will invade not only that region, but the rest of the body and therefore target cell indiscriminately. Basically, the end result would be like a form of cancer running open loop and out of control.

Another consideration is the mechanism to initiate regeneration of a cell. It is a complex process that involves many factors. For instance the beta and islet cells of the pancreas is one area of research where a host of hormones such as Gastrin and growth factors like HGF and EGF are used to try to stimulate the production of islet cells to cure diabetes.

This approach does not need a virus to act as the "vector" to stimulate the islet and beta cells to regenerate. Rather, the drugs are engineered to recognize the specific protein receptors on the cell membrane. So a simple injection into the blood stream is all that is needed.

There is probably a lot more to it than that, but I just do not know. You may try searching for a biology or genetics related forum and ask the question there if you would like to pursue the topic more.

k. cool. thank you for being honest :) all you need is really small robots, maybe? :)

Well, that's another can of worms. We are still struggling to understand the mechanisms of regeneration and this is one of the hot topics revolving around stem cells and progenitor cells.

A lot of head way is being made, but there is a mountain or work and discovery to do.

If the subject really interests you, I am sure that by the time you complete a graduate program in the field you will be ripe to hit the ground running. There will be many new things leaned by then, but I am also sure there will be even more work in the field to do.

Mastering this aspect of the workings of the cell will allow us to rid ourselves of some very nasty medical problems that all of us are prone to suffer from. The example of diabetes is just one such specialty where this knowledge can be applied.

If the field really excites you - go for it!

I should add, that whether you use a virus capsule or some nano-bot, both are simply vectors that deliver a specific payload. A lot of work is going on in this field, too. As you might already have guessed, cancer research has a very, very keen interest in vectors that can deliver drugs to specific cells and for good reasons.

I have no clue as to whether or not it can be done, but frankly it doesn't matter!

Hold onto your creativity and inspiration, that's the important thing here. You may get derailed onto something else, you may try and fail (which is perfectly fine, just learn from it), or you may succeed (in which case, I want to be the first person in line to have 4 arms, after all I think it'd be a short hop from regeneration of an old to growing a new).

Anyhow, keep learning and thinking... I like the attitude!

Hi Juice,

You might be interested in this story about regenerating joints, which was linked in CR4 news today.

Another fabulous regeneration technology is being developed by Organovo - the 3D bio printer for tissues and organs.

Both of these examples are using human DNA and living cells, combined with a matrix/scaffold or hydrogel to provide structural support for the growing cells.

These technologies don't use viruses, because there's no need to inject foreign genes - the major benefit is obtained by using the patient's own DNA to create a custom regenerated product.

This is really the cutting edge when it comes to regeneration science - amazing. And it is happening right in the USA, University of Missouri and Columbia, and Organovo being in San Diego CA. So keep working hard at your school work, and you may end up doing research with one of these great scientists as your supervisor!

Interesting thought..........As creepy as this sounds, I can envision the possibility of manipulating cancer cells to grow new limbs some day in the future. Lots of work to be done though between now and then.

Very impressive 9th grade thoughts!!!!!!!

Well done AH. GA. Not only did I understand but it gave me food for thought. I shall report once I get a few other things out of the way.

Brilliant, Ky.

Ever since I was out of high school I was fascinated with cancer and the mechanisms that cause it. That, and microbiology is a fascinating subject all to itself.

The complexity of a single eukaryot cell is just amazing.

eukaryot= u ky are ot

Words and systems, be they organic or just a thought or mechanical can be taken apart and with some imagination be put back together again. Maybe with a different meaning. That's just how my brains work.

You see, when I read that word eukaryot it means nothing to me, not yet. I will read up on it and refresh and update my knowledge on the subject. (If and when I find the time, I'm a bit like you and the 4 minutes thingo).

In many cases of discovery, the ability to think abstract is not only required, but essential and great fun, if not inspiration at its best. I wish the OP will be as fascinated by this dilemma (control of cells that carry a faulty message) as I am and was.

I will phrase an idea that I had years ago. Coming from a background of killing bacteria and viruses should give me a nice head start. Only now do I see a chance to put it "out there" in the open. It is literally out there and if this thread shows up with more mature students or practitioners the better.

See what I can learn here about the subject and I will start a new thread about my 'concept'. This last sentence was the off topic part.

So, I have been.

Great thread, Ky.

And that's why I didn't go into any detail with my thought. Thanks for the clarification.

Regeneration of organs is not new for the human body. The skin regenerates continuously. Hair and nail grow due to regeneration. There have been many reported cases where a new vessel has grown to supply blood to the heart to over come a blocked vessel. Even some centenarians have grown new set of teeth. The human cell inherently has the code to regenerate. The supreme mind which has the control on the body can activate this code to regenerate particular types of cells, a group of cells or even a complete organ. The question is how we emulate the process by stimulating the code from outside to start the regeneration. The need is to understand the way brain controls the body. How it makes various organs to release bio chemicals to keep the body functioning properly. When there is an infection in the body, the WBC count goes higher. Once the infection is cured the WBC count lowers. The answers to all the questions regarding the body actually lie in the brain. One has to learn to control the brain to obey commands and ask the body to cure itself or even regenerate a new organ completely. Mahess

Actually, every cell in the body, except nerve cells in the brain (and that is not completely true, either), on a periodic basis. No cell in your body is older than about 20 years.

You wrote, "The supreme mind which has the control on the body can activate this code to regenerate particular types of cells, a group of cells or even a complete organ."

We are still learning a lot of things about ourselves, but so far nothing has surfaced to substantiate that claim that I am aware of. Everyone ages and dies.

The CNS (central nervous system) is responsible for a lot of the autonomous duties in the body. So, in theory, there should be a way to consciously regulate those functions or many of those functions.

Great discussion, wow! Thank you kid. Keep at it and you may be, one day ,help improve the quality of life for many of us here who responded to you and more. If Newton did not,supposedly, think about the falling apple, we may still be far behind.

Juice, look for the book, "The Body Electric," by Robert Becker and Gary Selden.

I think you'll find it fascinating reading, as I did.

I just came across this scientific article regarding mammalian regeneration through single gene deletion that may be of interest.

http://www.physorg.com/news187879295.html