Skin Graft Farms?

An interesting story in the Guardian today about a new experimental technique for treating burns. It uses skin that has been grown from an aborted foetus. If that strikes you as a gruesome idea, then go and read the full story. It makes a lot of sense, and if the technique pans out, may bring a new way of treating burn victims.

 

It reminds me of the story behind HeLa cells, used in cancer research. They are cancer cells originally taken from a cancerous cervix in 1951 and cultured in vitro ever since. The resulting biomass of cells far exceeds the body mass of the woman from whom the biopsy was taken. HeLa stands for Henrietta Lacks, the woman in question. There’s a bittersweet article about Henrietta, her family, and the chain of events that led to HeLa cells. Well worth reading.