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Week 8 Post- Regenerative


For this weeks Nano Tech, I decided to research on self regenerating nano material with the combination of stem cell research for prosthetic purposes. I decided this idea would be interesting as I see many articles and innovation about the single topic listed above, but never the combination to cater to the prosthetic users.

Over the past years, many popular media has shun interested in prosthetic robotic limbs. We will see from time to time, a movie/ game character who has a robotic limb that he or she can control through the use of technology. Most likely by connecting the nervous system to a computer system that recognizes the instructions from the brain. But I have been wondering if that is really the route we should aim for.

To propose my idea, I must say that as of yet, this idea seems to be far from reach. There is yet many problems to solve to this day in the stem cell and nanotechnology studies. But what if there can, one day, be a prosthetic that does not require the harsh and invasive attachment to the body? What if scientist can one day infuse biomaterial nanotechnology with the idea of stem cells to provide more organic structured prosthetics?

From my research, there has been cases where stem cells have already taken a huge leap into helping people with lost limbs, or skins. This is done by fooling the body to produce stem cells instead of inflammation to trick the body to regenerating lost limbs. Such example covered by the CBS news shows insights to how Lee Spevak had regrown his finger tip with a special powder called the extracellular matrices. Dr. Stephen Badylak in the interview claims that ,in theory, we will one day be able to regrow limbs fully.
So what if we take this idea of stem cell regeneration and combine it with nano technology? This would be a great opportunity to enhance the human body for the future generation. If we look into UC Irvine’s study on biomaterial, we will see that H-bonding Brush Polymer (a material that they research team created) can regenerate simply with contact, it would be interesting to see how scientist can incorporate that by replacing skin with this regenerative material. Furthermore, what if scientist can also include this material with tendons and muscles which will allow for regenerative muscles and skins. I also believe that carbon nanotubes can be a great replacement of the nervous system as this material is a great conductor. Nanotubes are also great as the properties of this material allows it to be thin, flexible and sturdy.

Overall, I feel that the combination of these two fields can really change the idea of prosthetic limbs. I believe that one day human will ask to have limbs be replaced due to the advantages. Although this may seem like a concept from a sci fi movie, it is safe to say that even the concept of the internet would have sounded like magic to those even 50 years back.




Works Cited
Bhasin, Swati. "What Is Tissue Nanotransfection? A Step Forward For Nanotechnology In Regenerative Medicine." International Business Times. N.p., 08 Aug. 2017. Web.
Elearningekpa. "Nanotechnology - Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Feb. 2016. Web.
TheHealthFanatic. "Stem Cells Regenerate New Fingertip!" YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2009. Web.
UCIOTA1. "Self Healing NanoTechnology - UC Irvine ITG / GK Materials, Inc." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Apr. 2013. Web.
Unibirmingham. "New Method for Tissue Regeneration, Inspired by Nature." YouTube. YouTube, 03 Oct. 2017. Web.

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