Talk about magic–nanotechnology guiding stem cells

As baby boomers age, people are also living longer. Naturally they hope to also have improved quality of life—without paying their entire retirement savings for it.

What if we could affordably regenerate blood vessels, bones, cartilage, and even organs? Stem cell research is doggedly pursuing these magical goals, and now nanotechnology is promising to team up to help direct those efforts.

According to a recent presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS), scientists are beginning to understand biological pathways more deeply. And now nanotech chemistry is coming along to help them implement new ways of doing things. Experts are developing nanotechnology strategies to use “supramolecular self-assembly” to create noodle-like “nanoscale filaments, virus-like objects, or cell-like microcapsules” that can act as scaffolding for building regeneration processes.

The report goes on to say these noodle “gels” can be used with stem cell therapies to help treat spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease, to promote rapid growth of blood vessels for heart attacks or diseased arteries, and to facilitate regenerating bone and cartilage.

The patient’s right hip joint replaced by a me...
The patient’s right hip joint replaced by a metal head and a plastic cup. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As someone who’s looking at another hip replacement in the near future, this makes me want to say, “Hell, no,” and refuse to let them do the current barbaric procedure. This sawing-and-cutting-out-your-bones thing is so 18th century. Would I ask any questions about whether those nanoparticles could hurt me? Not at my age.

Wonder if I can hold out long enough for this promising tech to bear fruit?

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