Regenerating lost body parts - Starfish style

Starfish are curious creatures. Perhaps, their most characteristic ability is how they can regenerate lost limbs. If a starfish lost a limb, it is going to be regenerated. Even more surprising, a new starfish will be born from that lost limb.

This “T-1000” characteristic caught the attention of several biogenetics researches. In 2004, doctors from the University of California studied starfish’s genetic code and discover that some genes could be useful to understand some specific characteristics of cancer, effects of aging and, of course, regeneration. In addition, researchers created new genes on which similar cells from both human and starfish coexist. This experiment was the first of a set that involved computing techniques to do a more thorough work. At the same time, researchers of the University of Auckland got interested on this investigation because they were conducting research on brain regeneration to treat patients with degenerative diseases. So, it is proper to say that starfish may have the answer to several problems that diseases cause to us.

 

Despite starfish and humans are quite different, researchers keep doing experiments to find the expected result: discover how to mix genes that could make humans regenerate lost parts of their bodies. These experiments represents the hopes of many amputees, whose life have changed in a negative way after losing an arm or a leg—in worse cases, the two arms or legs.

Although studies on starfish may provide new solutions to the medicine field, they are considered animal experimentation. Starfish are still not so well known creatures, considering some of their characteristics a mystery. So, should researches continue with this investigation? Are starfish the answer to other degenerating diseases?

For more information, check this The New Zealand Herald article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3584086