First Steps in Unlocking Human Ability to Regenerate Tissue

A research group at Stanford University, led by Helen M. Blau, Jason H. Pomerantz (pictured left), now an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF, and Kostandin V. Pajcini, has, as reported by the NY Times, "taken a possible first step toward unlocking the human ability to regenerate. By inactivating two genes that work to suppress tumors, they got mouse muscle cells to revert to a younger state, start dividing and help repair tissue."