tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post125179576721278409..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Friday FourGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-12715333628277770852012-02-11T02:29:44.634-06:002012-02-11T02:29:44.634-06:00I know very little about bone, but the problem of ...I know very little about bone, but the problem of repairing it does seem to offer lots of interesting problems and opportunities. I'm the direct beneficiary of an accidental discovery: that bone <a href="http://gusvanhorn.blogspot.com/2010/09/osseointegration.html" rel="nofollow">integrates</a> with titanium.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-5394124716501667992012-02-10T13:07:14.653-06:002012-02-10T13:07:14.653-06:00That's a cool story about bone healing. The m...That's a cool story about bone healing. The main problem with the healing of bone tissue is that your body is programmed *not* to create new bone tissue--if you did, it'd be very bad for you. However, this also means that bone damage can be slow to heal.<br /><br />The tissue bank where I used to work made a product very similar to this gel, but it didn't use stem cells. Instead, they simply demineralized regular bone cells. Your bone cells normally get embedded in a thick layer of calcium and basically go dormant (they're the only cells in the body that can live without blood supply).<br /><br />When you get rid of the encasing layer of minerals, the cells that build and destroy bone basically wake up, realize they ought to be doing something, and set to work. So it seems to be the case that your body has the machinery in place to heal bone rapidly, it just doesn't operate very well without a kickstart.Jennifer Snowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00039865566870992465noreply@blogger.com