วันอาทิตย์ที่ 18 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

How the tooth fairy is helping stem cell research

A sculpture with the children's teeth in milk is at the heart of an offer to inform the public about research on stem cells

From a distance it resembles a fairytale castle that was covered by the sea and has grown organically to develop characteristics of a coral reef. Up close, however, clear that these white groups on the walls are not barnacles. Teeth. Baby teeth, thousands of them donated by children from around the UK and beyond to improve a sculpture of two square meters of fiberglass is intended to stimulate discussion on the potential Regenerative Medicine created by the stem cell research

Since December, the sculpture will be the centerpiece of the exhibition galleries will Palais in London, Liverpool and Coventry over the next year and a half. This represents a collaboration between the artist Gina Czarnecki and inventive biologist Professor Sara Rankin of Imperial College London.

They met in the Imperial, where Czarnecki Rankin attended a workshop on stem cells. Rankin research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, the adoption of a pharmacological approach to regenerative medicine. In adult marrow are specific subsets of stem cells that promote tissue repair and Rankin has recently identified a new drug combination that involves subsets of bone marrow into the bloodstream.

aware that there is public fear about the use of body parts in medical research, Rankin is committed to ensuring that the public at an early age. She goes to school and speaks to children of seven upwards on the possibility of inventing new drugs to help the body repair itself. Rankin Czarnecki meeting helped realize the possibilities of using art to "capture the imagination of children and involve them."

no fewer scientists and artists realized they had much in common, both. Have children the same age who had recently lost their baby teeth "Baby teeth are a sign of transition and growth," said Czarnecki. "Anything that falls on the body is a sign of decadence." But baby teeth are a useful source of stem cells? "All human tissue, either the heart or fat or a tooth, containing stem cells," said Rankin, who notes that it remains unclear whether the tissues of the teeth are so effective in repair of organs such as, for example, bone marrow. "But ultimately, you can use to develop a new tooth in laboratory conditions."


be mothers, women are well aware that most children expect a gift from the tooth fairy. Checks can be left under pillows are available on the site of Palacios and donation boxes at participating galleries.

for Czarnecki, it is further proof that the baby teeth act as a stimulus to public debate. "The work of art," she says, "... is to increase awareness, understanding and informed debate on these new biomedical possibilities and sound. Social, cultural and ethical"


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