fragile lining of the esophagus to regenerate
completely. He is now awaiting ;;; clearance to begin a large-scale clinical trial.
Ultimately, Badylak believes that ;;; will
lead to therapies that regrow amputated
human arms and legs, much as salaman-
ders and star;sh regenerate limbs, although
he realizes that this may not happen in his
lifetime. Regrowing an entire ;nger is a far
greater challenge than regrowing a single
tissue like muscle. Badylak’s strategy at the
moment is to construct a dome that would
cover the end of an amputated body part
and re-create the conditions that exist in a
human embryo, which possesses the ability
to grow any tissue type. “We know that in a
test tube we can get ;;; to form muscle, tis-
sue, fat, and bone,” he says. “If we can create
optimal conditions, we can truly program
the formation of the functional tissue.”
Stephen Badylak,
regenerative-medicine
pioneer, in his lab in
Pittsburgh. “We are
changing the body’s
default mechanism of
healing,” he says.
