Science And Technology

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 wou...