Virus That Repairs Nerves
If this can be perfected, then not only would “out for the season” be a thing of the past in sports, but paraplegics would be able to walk again
Viruses that mimic supportive nerve tissue may someday help regenerate injured spinal cords. While other tissue-engineering materials must be synthesized and shaped in the lab, genetically engineered viruses have the advantage of being self-replicating and self-assembling. They can be designed to express cell-friendly proteins on their surfaces and, with a little coaxing, be made into complex tissuelike structures. Preliminary studies show that scaffolds made using a type of virus called a bacteriophage (or phage) that infects bacteria but cannot invade animal cells can support the growth and organization of nerve cells.
Researchers working on tissue engineering hope to eventually be able to use a patient’s own cells to grow replacement tissue for damaged hearts, livers, and nerves. But mimicking the structure and function of the body’s tissue has proved difficult. Matrices of supportive, fibrous proteins sustain the cells of the heart, lungs, and other tissues in the body. These scaffolds provide both structural support and chemical signals that enable an organ or nerve tissue to function properly.
Filed under: Science
Its good to get the public excited about these kind of things so that we can eventually get more funding for basic research. But we’ve been working on this for years now. Viruses are great (and bad obviously) because they have a feature sometimes termed “subcellular mimicry”. They have literally evolved to imitate cellular processes and replace those processes to their own advantage: Replication (the sole goal of a virus).
Whats even more exciting is how some viruses can just high-jack machinery in the cell for its own use…literally come in and tell the cell to start making viral proteins. This is where this article comes along. Viruses can be engineered for genetic transfer and cellular modification to your specification.
We still have a long way to go though. Most fail to realize that Allah is in control.
Allaah definitely controls all affairs.
1. One of my companions is working on his Phd. in Biochemistry. His adviser, a kaffir, was really sweating him because an experiment he was working on kept failing for over six months. His adviser felt that because he wasn’t spazzing out about it, he wasn’t showing enough concern so it was a huge fitnah for him. My friend sent an email explaining that he’s Muslim, and we don’t sweat stuff because Allaah is in control of everything. The letter pissed his adviser off, but; Alhamdulullaah, right after he sent the email, he troubleshot the experiment again and Allaah gave him the tawfiq to make it work!!! What da’wah!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Another one of my companions was working on his MBA during Ramadhan two years ago. He was studying for a final, but was debating between studying or praying Tarawih–which is not fard. It really racked his brain because if he chose to pray, would be forced to stay up really late after the prayer, studying. He decided to offer Tarawih. When he returned he decided he would study what he could, get some sleep and just take the exam, and take his lumps. Because he selected to offer the act of worship i.e. pray Tarawih; over the dunyah i.e the exam; Allaah gave him a way out by making everything he studied that night, part of the exam. He aced the test; and the tawfiq came from Allaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uh, this sounds creepy….
Then again I just saw, I AM LEGEND so I am terrified of anything in a needle.
Those were good stories Daud. In the field of science, you face many disbelievers and most are atheist. Some look down upon YOU for belief in G-d over evolution or “Mother Nature”. Surely, Allah has promised a severe punishment for them. If they only knew what rewards lay with faith and belief in Allah. My faith grows stronger the more I study Allah’s creation. You can really see Tawheed when you study science with a quranic perspective.