I created this site in order to boost awareness in this field of research that will eventually transform our lives with regeneration. Like the coming new era of the exploration of space, I feel that regenerative medicine is really going to help humanity in the long term and over come some of its health challenges.
In fact, it already is in many ways. Regenerative medicine is still very much in its infancy and I equate its current developments similar to the home microcomputer in the 1980s when the awesome Commodore 64 and other 8-bit computers made their way into people’s homes.
We did not really know where it was heading but we knew it was going to be huge as can be seen today with the Internet, Smartphones and how computer technologies have fundamentally transformed our lives and the world for the better.
The same is true for regenerative medicine, despite it is early days at the moment, what is currently being achieved is phenomenal and very significant.
I always felt saddened when I hear and see people whom have had such horrific injuries or had amputations as the only course of treatment to combat certain diseases or medical problems.
Later in our development as a human family, we will look back and see that this was a very primitive and bad way of treating the patient.
As in the movie Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home, when they went back to the time of 20th Century on the Earth. Dr McCoy arguing with the surgeon on treating Chekov’s head injury: “… Now put away your butcher knifes, and let me save this patient before its too late!”
Of course right now in the early 21st Century, this is the only way that the physician or medical consultant knows as the best course of treatment to fix the patient’s injury or to save their life.
Limb Regeneration For Humans
It was in the early 1990s when researching into topics on meditation and metaphysical concepts, along with looking at the electric phenomenon called the ‘etheric body’ for understanding healing phenomena. I first came across this with the scientist Robert O. Becker who did a lot of research into the electric body. He was looking at limb regeneration in animals and how electricity played an important role for regeneration.
You can find more about his research in the book, The Electric Body.
This was when I first heard about the possibility of regrowing back limbs for amputees like salamanders do, and a light bulb went off in my head.
It will surely be one of the most amazing and fantastic
discoveries in medical science ever achieved.
The Boston Bombings, April 2013
Since the 1990s, occasionally I would look into the possibility. However, it was really in the wake of the Boston bombing tragedy that I really went into overdrive into researching this and figured it is about time we made a difference.
After looking at the nature of the devastating injuries and the attacks as they were similar to war wounds, I thought what is currently being done in this area of regeneration. Is it possible to grow a lost arm or leg, like Newts and Salamanders do?
I got into the what scientists are working on what would once be considered a far fetched concept is starting to take shape in the lab in terms of progress. Scientists believe that one day limb regeneration for humans is possible, as is the concept of organ regeneration.
According to media reports perhaps as many has 20 people had lost limbs, some with multiple limb loss and perhaps as many as 200 people had other kinds of horrendous injuries such as extreme burns and damaged ear drums.
Due to the amazing advancements in medicine you have a very good chance of survival even with major blood loss, but will have to live with traumatic injures, as conventional medical science cannot fix very well.
This is why regenerative medicine and stem cell research is here and is able to provide a solution to those problems.
Research And The Bright Future Ahead…
I was soon to realize as I research into this area that amazing developments have been made in understanding limb regeneration. I learned of what the US Military and their research and development wing, DARPA, had been doing, this is a whole separate discussing in itself and will be blogging about this soon.
Also the amazing research that scientists have been carrying out on salamanders throughout the world. The following article is one such recent interesting developments in this field.
In addition I also contacted one scientist who specializes in limb regeneration and gets his funding from the Department of Defense as I wanted to ask his expertise on certain topics that were going on in the media around his research.
So my aim in this website is to bring awareness to the pubic mind and perhaps push things forward more. To make this website as informative as possible.
It is of particular concern that in just America alone, 1 out of every 200 is an amputee and scientists suggest that unless something is done, this figure will double in the next 40 years.
It is also of great concern that with the rise of terrorist atrocities, military combat situations, and amputations related to diabetic diseases, these statistical figures will increase unless advancements in medical science are made.
To the best of my knowledge no one has created a website like this in this specific research area of regenerative medicine. Usually you will see blogs talking about human limb regeneration but it is along with other developments in science.
Please comment below on your thoughts and if there is any improvements I can make to this site. Also if you like to connect with me or have any questions, you can send a message here.
Thank you for taking the time to drop by. You make it a great day!
Greetings Alexander,
The statistical data regarding amputees , 1 out of 200 is astounding! And the predication in the next 40 years is even worse!
As one who is blessed to have all my limbs functioning, I sympathize with all those who have lost their limbs or were born without them. Maybe this research will be beneficial for them in the future to regain the mobility that they have lost.
At any rate, all hope is not lost. When one loses one body function, it seeks to strengthen other parts. Man doesn’t know what he can do until he is tested. Then, some of the best of humanity is forced on stage, sometimes getting a standing ovation!
I applaud you for shedding light on this health topic. Keep up the fight!
Thank you Lina for your reflections. I have empathy also with those whom have had life changing injuries or those born with those physical conditions. And I am sure one day they will look back and think – how did people with those injuries live all their lives like that. Just in the same way today we cannot imagine our lives without the internet or not having planes to travel to a different country in a few hours.
You are absolutely right, and I mentioned in one of my articles that what amputees today can achieve is highly commendable and to be admired. A theme you see is a deep determination to succeed and able to over come their challenges no matter the odds. If you look at the Paralympics for example or those doing great achievements in swimming and hiking large mountains, or rock climbing, as examples. And this is also thanks to the great advancements in technologies – allowing them to do great things in sports.
Thank you for your awesome positive comments.
Hi Alexander,
I have a question that really puzzles me regarding all this talk of regenerating limbs. I have a meniscus tear. It won’t heal fully because there is no blood supply in the inner two thirds. It’s one on the most si,ple tissues in the knee yet medical science to date cannot repair it. If this isn’t possible how on earth is it expected to regenerate an entire knee joint with the the next 7 to 15 years as quoted in the article on your blog?
Kind regards
James
Hi James,
Thank you for your reply and you have given an excellent question. In the article that you are referring to on Regrowing Human Limbs by 2030, I intend to put forward such a question to the Scientist that the posting is based on. I plan to interview different scientists soon that specialize in limb regeneration.
I recently posted a new article about Functional Joint Regeneration in frogs from a team of Japanese scientists that you may be interested in. Perhaps eventually this will provide a solution to the problems in your knee one day?
The above article on functional joint regeneration in frogs is encouraging. They intend to now try their research on mice.
All the scientists I am aware of that research in human limb regeneration, say that according to the scientific literature, there is nothing that says it is not possible. I doubt that such scientists would be working as hard as they could if it was a remote possibility. Some of them are being funded by the Department of Defense and I’ll be writing an article on what the US Military have been doing.
The challenge is how long it will take, which means as how many people are focused figuring out a solution on a problem, and how much money is willing to be invested.
Again I am excited here, as there has been a rapid increase of interest in the scientific community for regeneration and stem cell technologies. There has, even in these early days, huge successes in tissue engineering for rebuilding/repairing body parts and new innovative treatments for skin burns, because of this increasing money is being spent.
Hence the posting mentioned above about achieving limb regeneration by 2030 (or 15 years) where they intend to bring together different scientists as a collective effort to move things forward more quickly, with joint funding.
Many of these scientists work in isolation from others in different areas of expertise and don’t always share their discoveries.
Will they do this by 2030? Perhaps, but it is going to take time. I think most likely regrowing toes and fingers, will likely come first before the whole limb can be regenerated. I would say something less ambitious as scar free healing and digit regeneration will happen within the next 7 years but again I am only repeating what some scientists suggest. Other scientists say that it will be possible to regrow a new arm in 10 years.
Basically once a concrete discovery is made and the science is understood then who knows how long it would take before a new novel treatment is available. It could all happen quickly to develop the technology when a discovery is made.
At the moment, I would say there is no real data that would suggest it will happen any day now. However, it will happen in our lifetimes.
For the moment I am not aware of any therapies that are available for inducing regeneration in a mammal. The first breakthrough will come from mice as this will lead to human clinical trials.
Scientists are now on the verge of perhaps getting some interesting results in the mouse model as suggested in the above article on functional joints regeneration.
I know we have been down this route before where scientists make a prediction only for nothing to materialize, however, I think now things are different as stem cell technologies start to advance and really explode.
Scientists are working on it and there is a powerful voice and demand that more research and funding in regenerative medicine treatments is advanced as quickly as possible.
I hope this answers your question but do let me know if I can help further to clarify things. I will be putting your question forward to scientists that I interview to see what kind of insights they offer as its a very good and obvious question.
Thanks,
Alexander.