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See the original image at technologyreview.com —

Self-assembling Nanofibers Heal Spinal Cords

technologyreview.com — An engineered material that can be injected into damaged spinal cords could help prevent scars and encourage damaged nerve fibers to grow.

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  • CrunchyDeluxe, on 04/09/2008, -2/+35Okay. This is exciting stuff.
  • theaceoffire, on 04/09/2008, -1/+19HELL YES!
    Now make it as affordable as getting a booster shot and a large section of humanity will have a better life! Hope they can get this out to the public in the next few years...
    • LogicBomB, on 04/09/2008, -1/+10Sadly nothing revolutionary makes it to the market within a few years. Hell, even small improvements take for ***** ever.

      My problem is the extended research/trials/etc that go into this stuff and drag it out. If someone has the option of either living a life they can't stand or risk their lives on a new treatment where is the harm in giving them the choice? They get to roll the dice and medical science goes forward.
      • mysedai, on 04/10/2008, -0/+2I've read papers that point out that the people in most desperate need of a cure are the worst test subjects for a variety of reasons. For one thing, they sometimes convince themselves of "improvements" that are not actually real; they want hope and the human brain can manufacture it with very little help. Also, a person, say in constant pain, might jump at the possibility of a fix without really realizing the possible consequences or complications.
        I have a family member who needs an operation the FDA won't approve that has had great success in other countries and it's frustrating knowing that the technology exists but isn't approved for use, but I still think the FDA regulations have saved a great many lives over the years.
    • venuspcs, on 04/10/2008, -1/+12I am 36 years old now, when I was 17 I exploded the last two vertebrae in my lower spine (including the one that fuses my spine to my hips) and nearly severed my spinal cord in two places. I have never had any surgery done to try and repair the damage and was told at the time I would never walk again. For three months I didn't. Every since then I have lived with unimaginable pain, little to no feeling in my legs (the less the better if you ask me) and agonizing pain in my lower back/hips 24/7. Due in large part to this accident I developed severe degenerative arthritis that has began eating other vertebrae in my spine. Needless to say I could really really really use this.

      As a note I managed to make into the US Navy and complete Special Training with this problem and am now a computer tech, website designer and Heavy Haul Truck Driver.....I have never let the pain stop me, but it is getting harder to keep them legs working every year.
  • gak001, on 04/09/2008, -0/+19I just found out today that even if you are partially paralyzed you can often still feel your junk - so not only would I be able to keep on going, but there's a good chance I wouldn't have to worry about being paralyzed forever. Score one for nanotechnology.

    Now about that cancer thing...
    • CrunchyDeluxe, on 04/09/2008, -1/+14Um... you can't feel your junk if your hands are paralyzed... O_o
    • subterfuge, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5it is true. the nerve endings in the genitals that cause pleasure and can initiate an orgasm do not run to the brain through the spinal cord. there is a separate nerve pathway for them. evolutionarily, this makes perfect sense. parapalegics and quadripeligics who had this separate pathway could still reproduce.
      • GothAlice, on 04/10/2008, -5/+3… which wouldn't make evolutionary sense, as that entity is obviously defective and/or weaker than the rest. Why would nature want it to reproduce?
        • understudy, on 04/10/2008, -1/+10Because if the injury is not related to genetics, it would not be passed to the offspring.

          _
        • eir574, on 04/10/2008, -1/+6Natural selection doesn't prevent organisms from reproducing because they are weak. We define fitness in the evolutionary sense as those individuals who are best able to reproduce and thereby pass their traits on to their offspring. To say that an individual should be selected against by natural selection because he's weak is backwards. If that individual has a catastrophic injury but is still able to reproduce at an average or above average rate, then he wasn't unfit in the evolutionary sense. In fact, you could turn that argument around and say that he was actually quite fit: despite a terrible injury, he was able to survive and reproduce (i.e. fault tolerance).
  • KyMcMan, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6Wow, very cool.
  • fr0ng, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7Borg nanoprobes?
  • mark076h, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7This is how Locke in Lost is able to walk again!
    • GothAlice, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1No… he's able to walk because of time travel. Oops, spoiler alert. >:^P
  • chubbybubba, on 04/09/2008, -1/+24It is just a matter of time before they start injecting fibers in healthy humans. First decrease the chance of spinal chord injury but then to create super humans with indestructible spines and muscles. Imagine, internal nano-fiber scaffolding to not only protect but to strengthen the bodies of an army to take over the entire world. (insert maniacal laughter here.)
    • toppgun, on 04/09/2008, -0/+30and then we become impotent and humanity starts to die. Hopefully there will be an illegal immigrant to England that will be miraculously pregnant who has to get to the Humanity Project.
    • bhavinp, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Why would we become impotent? If anything it would be the other way around.
    • Harbinger67, on 04/10/2008, -0/+2Kind of like that episode of Futurama. Except not worms.
  • RustyJ, on 04/09/2008, -0/+13So, essentially, It's taking an already developing science (repairing nerve cells) and evolving it to a liquid, surgery-free form. That is so awesome.
  • Hananda, on 04/09/2008, -7/+3Seems like every couple months they repair the spinal cord of some lab animal. Why aren't any of these techniques used on humans? Bureaucracy, I assume.
    • brokencode, on 04/09/2008, -2/+11No. It's called ethics.
      • Hananda, on 04/10/2008, -0/+6Oh, to hell with the quasi-ethics of the medical community. If doctor and patient are both willing to go forward with the procedure, how can it be considered unethical?
    • adverpart, on 04/09/2008, -2/+3^ This.
  • adverpart, on 04/09/2008, -3/+10We'll never hear about this again.
  • mattmollysdad, on 04/09/2008, -9/+3and with the coming of "Universal Healthcare" we will surely have more and more great researchers as they abandon their medical practice because of overwork, low income and John Edwards type lawyers.
  • d0ugfunny, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1SCIENCE!
  • SergeantProton, on 04/09/2008, -0/+0Very innovative approach to one of my biggest fears. I've seen more than my share of people with spinal cord injuries, many from ridiculous and avoidable accidents. I hope this pans out.
  • Fishnchipsman, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Great... Now people will have indestructible spines.
  • CodeCobalt, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6one of my best friends was partially paralyzed. he could walk with crutches and leg braces... one year at a superbowl party he sat on a radiator without realizing it was hot. had 3rd degree burns all over... such a cool nice kid too.

    and self-assembling nano-probes... damn we live in an amazing world
  • dudefaceguyman, on 04/09/2008, -0/+7This is quite exciting. The scariest part of having a spinal fusion done is knowing you're at a good risk of getting paralyzed. Since they're working around the spinal chord and stuff. I got my fusion a few months back and the amount of torque to the spine they were doing was hell on the spinal chord and they had to back off a slight bit to avoid paralyzing me. Nearly died. This would be a godsend to future generations getting a spinal fusion done. Would make spinal fusions a more practical surgery instead of just plain ballsy to do.
  • CTK14A, on 04/09/2008, -0/+8Does this mean I can finally parachute off my balcony worry-free?
    • stoanhart, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4If you like pain and risking death, then yes, yes you can.
  • Ne007, on 04/09/2008, -2/+4AMAZING! And it's only 10 years away from being reality!

    ***** amazing! Just think....20 years ago this would only be 30 years away!

    When I was a kid, everything was 10 years away, and now it's only 10 years away also. Amazing science!
  • tomgsmyth, on 04/10/2008, -1/+3one question remains....will it make my penis bigger?
    • void, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1No but it could make it hard... permanently
    • urinate, on 04/10/2008, -0/+0If it did, we'd have guys passing out from every erection they get.
    • mysedai, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1More importantly, will it blend?
  • unknamed, on 04/10/2008, -0/+7"The researchers stimulated a spinal cord injury in mice..."

    Must really suck to be a lab mouse.
  • TimeLincoln, on 04/10/2008, -0/+4Why doesn't this have more diggs!!!
    • b1narymess1ah, on 04/10/2008, -0/+5because the vast majority of people are too caught up in trivial bull ***** to care about the amazing advances in SCIENCE. case in point "one question remains...will it make my penis bigger?"
  • dho331, on 04/10/2008, -0/+0Wow, Crysis IRL, take that X-Bots!!! :P
  • yyshah102, on 04/10/2008, -0/+0Amazing. I love how things like this would have been considered impossible only five years ago.
  • mecharabbit, on 04/10/2008, -0/+5My dad is always telling me to grow a spine. Now I have hope of finally living up to his expectations.
  • chrup, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1Uhhh - replicators.
  • snowskate22, on 04/10/2008, -2/+110 bucks says it causes cancer
  • iWantToWalk, on 04/10/2008, -0/+9I've been in a chair for over 9 years... I still have fun and enjoy life but I WANT TO WALK! As the years go by the impossible is now becoming possible. Good Stuff!
  • spinkster, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1Wow - very Star Trek!
  • MasterThief117, on 04/10/2008, -1/+2Sweet! Now I am off to do backflips off the roof.
  • JekJob, on 04/10/2008, -0/+0Nice! I can't wait to be an android.
  • jnorris441, on 04/10/2008, -2/+1I wonder how Christians are going to complain about this one
    • Flummoxer, on 04/10/2008, -0/+2Probably the same way they complain about catheterizations. Oh wait, they don't.
  • speakeasy602, on 04/10/2008, -2/+0I would like to have this injected into my wenis...
  • SergeantProton, on 04/10/2008, -1/+0Here's a link to another story about it. At the end they say "If the gel is approved for humans, a clinical trial could begin in several years." WTF!!If I get injured and I'm going to be stuck sucking on a straw to move my chair for the rest of my life, give me the stuff NOW. I don't care what the risk is. Seriously 7 years
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/08040 ...
  • Cleremond, on 04/10/2008, -0/+0I wonder what this could mean in the near future for people who have MS (Multiple Sclerosis).....wow....very exciting!!
  • AvangionQ, on 04/10/2008, -0/+2"An engineered material that can be injected into damaged spinal cords could help prevent scars and encourage damaged nerve fibers to grow. The liquid material, developed by Northwestern University materials science professor Samuel Stupp, contains molecules that self-assemble into nanofibers, which act as a scaffold on which nerve fibers grow." ... amazing breakthrough in neuroscience -- looking forward to hearing further developments and eventual implementation ...
  • caponumen, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1The future is NANOTECH not biotech........
  • Culyt, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Not sure that I would want to risk a severe case of grey goo...
  •  

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