3 New Research in Biology

1 Scaring Could Be Prevented By Converting Cells From One Form to Another

Early last year it was announced that researchers may have made a huge breakthrough in healing wounds. They may have found a way of 'hacking' tissue within the wound to regenerate skin without leaving scar tissue.

Doctors from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, the Plikus Laboratory for Developmental and Regenerative Biology at the University of California, Irvine collaborated for years and finally published their findings in January of 2017.

They found a method to converting myofibroblasts (a common healing cell in wounds) to fat cells - this was once thought impossible. Whilst myofibroblasts are essential for healing, they are also a critical element in the formation of scar tissue. 

Scars are usually formed, in part, due to a loss of subcutaneous fat cells called adipocytes. If then the myofibroblasts could in some way be converted into fat cells, scaring would be less pronounced if visible at all.

George Cotsarelis, the principal investigator of the project and chair of the Department of Dermatology and the Milton Bixler Hartzell Professor of Dermatology at Penn explains:- "Essentially, we can manipulate wound healing so that it leads to skin regeneration rather than scarring."

"The secret is to regenerate hair follicles first. After that, the fat will regenerate in response to the signals from those follicles." - George continued.

The signals, they found, appeared to be a special type of protein called Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP). 

"Typically, myofibroblasts were thought to be incapable of becoming a different type of cell," Cotsarelis said. "But our work shows we have the ability to influence these cells, and that they can be efficiently and stably converted into adipocytes." - explained George.

This research can have other applications for diseases as well as slowing down the aging process - specifically preventing wrinkle formation. 

 Mitochondrial DNA 'Spring Cleaning' Could Prevent Aging

Researchers recently discovered a method to manipulate the DNA of aging cells in the human body. The scientists from Caltech and UCLA were able to produce a technique to tinker with the power plants of the cell - mitochondria.

Aging in the human body is a consequence, in part, of a compilation of copying errors in our DNA over time. This poor DNA copying leads to telomere shortening and other mutations.

Mitochondria are some of the worst culprits for this in the human cell - although mitochondrial DNA (abb. mtDNA) is separate to that from the main nucleus of the cell.

Each cell contains hundreds of mitochondria and each mitochondrion carries their own packet of mtDNA. mtDNA will tend to build up in the cell over time and falls broadly into two types; normal mtDNA and mutant mtDNA.

When the latter builds up to a certain concentration in the cell, it ceases to function properly and dies.

"We know that increased rates of mtDNA mutation cause premature aging," explained Bruce Hay, Caltech professor of biology and biological engineering. "This, coupled with the fact that mutant mtDNA accumulates in key tissues such as neurons and muscle that lose function as we age, suggests that if we could reduce the amount of mutant mtDNA, we could slow or reverse important aspects of aging."

The team was able to find a way of removing mutated mtDNA from the mitochondria completely, thus staving off the issues created by accumulated levels of mtDNA in the cell. 

Mutant mtDNA has also been linked to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, age-related muscle loss, and Parkinson's. Inherited mtDNA could also be a contributing factor to the development of autism. 

3 The Human Body's 79th Organ Was Discovered in 2017

At the beginning of 2017, scientists officially added a new organ to Gray's Anatomy. The organ was, literally, hidden in plain sight for centuries. 

The new organ, called the Mesentery is now officially the human body's 79th organ. The organs name translates to “in the middle of the intestines" and is a double fold in the peritoneum (or lining to the abdominal cavity) that attaches the intestines to the abdominal wall.

The Mesentery was originally thought it to be a fragmented structure which was part of the digestive system. However, they discovered that it is one continuous organ.

It was first identified by J. Calvin Coffey (Professor at the University of Limerick) who published his findings in The Lancet shortly after. As exciting as this development is, the new organ's function is still something of a mystery.