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Though doctors have been patching up tears in heart muscle tissues for many years, the solution is far from perfect. Stitches and staples that work perfectly well in sealing other muscles, do not do as well in wet environments and when subjected to pressure - Both of which are inevitable around the heart. Now there may be a perfect solution - super glue!

team of doctors and engineers from This of course is not the kind you would find at the local hardware store, but one invented by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Children's hospital and Brigham and Women's hospital. As is the case with many groundbreaking medical breakthroughs, the researchers looked to nature for inspiration. In this case it was the slimy slugs that easily attach themselves to wet surfaces without losing their adhesion, that helped provide the spark!

As you can imagine, creating something similar was not easy. The polymer had to be flexible yet strong enough to withstand the pressure of a beating heart. Then there was the issue of it being able to maintain its adhesive properties whilst being immersed in blood. Additionally, it also had to be biocompatible, so that the human body would not reject it.

It has taken a few years, but it appears that the team led by Brigham and Women's, Jenny Karp, may have come up with a solution. In a paper they published in the January 10th edition of Science Translation Medicine, they unveiled the H ydrophobic light-activated adhesive (HLAA) - the first super-glue for humans. The polymer is flexible and will harden and create a watertight seal in a mere 5 seconds, when exposed to Ultra Violet light. But most importantly, it is completely biocompatible. So much so, that the researchers envision that over time, cells will be able to grow into the material of the super-glue patch and hopefully, heal the heart forever.

HLAA is still in the early stages of testing and has thus far been used only to treat pigs with tears in their hearts. However, the results are very encouraging. The super-glue seemed to be able to hold its own despite the high pressure of blood running through the organs, but more importantly, the animals experienced a complete recovery. Of course, humans are a little more complicated. Thanks to our longer lifespan, the HLAA adhesive would have to be capable of sealing the tear or hole for decades, not a few years or months.

HLAA is currently undergoing more testing and if all goes well, will probably be made available to doctors by Paris-based bio-tech start-up Gecko Biomedical, within two to three years. The best part is that if successful, this amazing glue will not only heal broken hearts, but also, other organs and body parts! In just a few years, it may be common for surgeons to ditch the stitch and just reach out for their super-glue!

Resources: wonderfulengineering.com,npr.org,gizmag.com

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Though doctors have been patching up tears in heart muscle tissues for many years, the solution is far from perfect. Stitches and staples that work perfectly well in sealing other muscles, do not do as well in wet environments and when subjected to pressure - Both of which are inevitable around the heart.

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While scientists have built many artificial organs individually, they have never before been put together to create an entire human body. Rex or as he has recently been renamed Frank ( after Frankenstein ), the world's first fully functional bionic man has just changed that. Now on display at the National Air And Space Museum in Washington D.C., the human clone was assembled in three short months using state-of-the-art organs that were donated by 17 manufacturers - A good thing given that the total cost came to about $1 million USD!

The dapper bionic man whose face is modeled after University of Zurich psychologist Bertoit Meyer who led the project, is six and half feet tall, weighs 170lbs and can sit, stand and walk with the help of an exoskeleton that is used to help people with spinal injuries.

While the exterior is certainly interesting, it is as they say what's on the inside, that matters - And in Rex's case there is plenty - Starting from most technologically advanced robotic limbs to a functioning heart that pumps oxygen and artificial blood around his body. He also has a lung, kidney, spleen and even a pancreas. A retinal implant allows the bionic man to sense objects around him, while a cochlear insert enables him to hear.

All in all, Rex aka Frank has about 60-70 percent functionality of a normal human. He is still missing some key parts like a digestive system, liver, skin and most importantly, a brain!

According to Richard Walker, the lead roboticist at London-based Shadow Robot Company responsible for creating the bionic man, Rex was assembled to showcase the advances in aesthetic prostheses for people that have lost their limbs or part of their face and maybe even an organ. Having said that, while the organs worked well on Rex some like the kidney, are still in early trial phase and not ready to be used on humans yet.

Rex who was first unveiled at London's Science Museum in February of this year, made his way across the Atlantic neatly packed up in two suitcases, earlier this month. After meeting with his fans at New York's Comic-Con, the bionic man flew to the National Air and Space Museum, where he will will be on display for a few months for all to admire, before heading back to England.

For those that are nowhere close to the area, there is the Smithsonian documentary - Entitled, The Incredible Bionic Man, it chronicles his life from when he was just a bunch of disjointed body parts to present time, and is scheduled to air on the Smithsonian television channel on October 20th at 9/8 Central time, so be sure to tune in.

Resources: geekosystem.com,stuff.co,nz, guardian,co.uk

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While scientists have built many artificial organs individually, they have never before been put together to create an entire human body. Rex or as he has recently been renamed Frank (after Frankenstein), the world's first fully functional bionic man has just changed that.

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The struggle to recreate human tissues in the laboratory is nearly as old as the medical profession itself. The cell as you all know, is the structural, functional and biological unit of all organisms, whether it is a single celled-bacteria or a 90 trillion-celled human! While these microscopic units appear simple, they are actually quite complex and almost impossible to build from scratch, which is why for the longest time 'growing' new human body parts in the laboratory seemed like an impossible task. That perception seems to be changing somewhat, thanks to the recent advent of 3-D printing.

One of the biggest hurdles to recreating human organs has been the challenge of combining the various cells that make up each one and ensuring that they are in the right place so that they can function as efficiently as the one that is being replaced. Now using these new machines, researchers can finally do that by 'printing' the different cells, one at a time and positioning them correctly within a structure. It is therefore no wonder that grafting researchers all over the world are busy developing almost every human organ possible, ranging from the ear to the kidney and liver and even the largest one of all - the skin! Here is a brief synopsis on their progress.

Ears

While the outer ears may appear superfluous, they actually plays a big role in hearing. Unfortunately, they sometimes fail to develop properly or become damaged, which is why the researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University have been trying to recreate them, since 2007.

They begin by converting the 3-D image of the human subject's ear into a digitized 'solid' ear using the printer to create the exact mold. They then inject the mold with collagen - the tough but malleable tissue that forms the outer ear and nose, that they extracted from rat tails. To this they injected 250 million cells from the cow ears. The collagen provided a dependable scaffold upon which the cartilage was able to grow and thrive.

What amazes lead researcher Lawrence Bonassar, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, is how fast the process works. According to him, it takes less than half a day to create the mold, one day to print it, a half hour to inject the gel and then a few days in nourishing culture media, before it's ready to be implanted.

Having perfected the technique, the researchers now hope to begin conducting tests using human cells, ideally from the person for whom the implant is being made, so that the probability of rejection can be reduced drastically. If all goes according to plan, they plan to have them readily available for the thousands of young children that suffer from microtia, a condition where the external ear is not fully developed, within three years!

Kidneys

To say that kidneys are amongst the most important organs of the human body is an understatement. They do after all help filter the blood stream and ensure that all harmful substances are duly removed and excreted. While recreating such a complex organ is no easy task, researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China's Eastern Zhejiang Province have already succeeded in the first step - 'Printing' out functioning mini kidneys capable of filtering blood and creating urine for excretion and, keeping them alive in the lab for a full four months! A full-size human kidney is hopefully, not too far behind!

Liver

Weighing between 1.44 to 1.66kg, the soft pinkish brown triangular liver that comprises of four disparate lobes is the largest internal organ and gland and one of the most important ones in the human body. It's many varied roles that include detoxification, protein synthesis and the production of biochemicals necessary for digestion, make it crucial for survival. These same qualities also make it hard to replicate synthetically.

But this hasn't stopped the researchers at San Diego based Organavo who are working on creating this complex organ with their 3-D printers. While still very much a work in progress, the building blocks that have already been built by them and other similar companies are expected to be very useful in testing the toxicity of new medicines on the human body.

Skin

Did you know that the skin is the largest organ in the human body? Not only does it encase all the organs, but it also, protects the body from external harm. However sometimes with larger injuries and burns, the skin itself needs some rescuing and re-grafting. The problem with current grafting methods is that in order to work, it requires a piece of skin from another part of the patient's body.

Researchers at North Carolina's Wake Forest School of Medicine are working on a project that completely eliminates this need. They have created a system in which a camera scans a wound to create a 3D image, and then new 'skin' is printed right onto the scrape or burn. In trials with mice, researchers were able to help heal skin injuries in record time. They hope that this will work as efficiently in humans not only improving healing times tremendously, but also reducing the risk of infection, which is a big issue today.

When Chuck Hill came up with the 3-D printing process that he coined 'sterolithography', in 1986, he would have never guessed that it may one day provide the answer to many of our problems - ranging from helping with school projects to feeding the growing world population to even, saving lives!

Resources: Gizmodo.com, Popsci.com,news.cornell.edu

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The struggle to recreate human tissues in the laboratory is nearly as old as the medical profession itself. The cell as you all know, is the structural, functional and biological unit of all organisms, whether it is a single celled-bacteria or a 90 trillion-celled human!

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'Smart' Bandage Extracts Bacteria From Wounds

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'Smart' Bandage Extracts Bacteria From Wounds

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Image Credit: kilmerhouse.com

In 1920, Johnson and Johnson employee Earle Dickson created the first bandage to cover the frequent burns and cuts his wife Josephine inflicted on herself while cooking. The hand-made prototype was instantly adopted by his employer and marketed as Band-Aid, a brand that has become synonymous with the word bandage. However, while the adhesive strips may now look different from Dickson's creation they still perform the same job - Prevent bacteria from entering wounds.

What bandages that now come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, are unable to do is protect the body from the germs already present in the wound. However, that may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new gauze that not only acts as a barrier between external bacteria and the wound but also, sucks out the ones already present!

Electron microscopy image of E. coli (Photo Credit: University Hospital of the University of Jena)

The brilliant technology that is still in the early stages of development is being spearheaded by Martina Abirgo, a Ph.D. candidate at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. The team began by creating nanofibers using a technique called electrospinning. Used to build artificial tissue it entails pushing polymer out of an electrified nozzle to produce strands that are 100 times thinner than a single human hair. The nanofibers were then interwoven to create the smart bandage.

The mesh was then put to test on the Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), a bacterium known to cause chronic wound infections. The researchers noticed that the germs were immediately drawn to the fibers. What was interesting is that the bandage was most effective when the nanofiber's diameter was the same size as that of the individual bacterium. When the strands were thinner, fewer of the bacteria attached and those that did, died as they tried to wrap themselves around the fiber.

Image Credit: Imgur.com

For their second test, the scientists coated the mesh with compounds like acrylic acid and allylamine. They then tested its effectiveness in drawing out the E.coli bacterium that is prevalent in chronic wounds. They found that the bacteria quickly attached themselves to the mesh coated with allylamine regardless of the size of the fiber. However, the E.coli were not at all drawn to the mesh covered with the acrylic acid.

Encouraged by the results, Martina and her team collaborated with scientists from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom to conduct similar tests on artificial skin. Though the results are yet to be published, the researchers say that the mesh worked as effectively on the human manufactured living tissue. The smart bandage will now be tested on humans, and if all goes well, patients and doctors will soon be able to peel away harmful bacteria using this ingenious dressing.

Though such a bandage would certainly be real cool for everyday playground scrapes and cuts, the technology is a lifesaver for people with compromised immunity levels. These include patients afflicted with diseases like diabetes and cancer. The researchers believe the technology could also be used to create protective clothing.

Resources:scitation.aip.org,dailymanagementreview.org, iflscience.com, technology,medicaldaily.com

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'Smart' Bandage Extracts Bacteria From Wounds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1920, Johnson and Johnson employee Earle Dickson created the first bandage to cover the frequent burns and cuts his wife Josephine inflicted on herself while cooking. The hand-made prototype was instantly adopted by his employer and marketed as Band-Aid, a brand that has become synonymous with the word bandage.