From BBC Article “Nanotech helps blind hamsters see”:
An interesting article from the BBC examines what seems to be a way to produce self-assembling scaffolds for nerve regeneration: “The researchers injected the blind hamsters at the site of their injury with a solution containing synthetically made peptides – miniscule molecules measuring just five nanometres long. Once inside the hamster’s brain, the peptides spontaneously arranged into a scaffold-like criss-cross of nanofibres, which bridged the gap between the severed nerves. The scientists discovered that brain tissue in the hamsters knitted together across the molecular scaffold, while also preventing scar tissue from forming. Importantly, the newly formed brain tissue enabled the brain nerves to re-grow, restoring vision in the injured hamsters.”
And from a KurzweilAI we have “Researchers Grow Bone Cells on Carbon Nanotubes”:
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have shown, for the first time, that bone cells can grow and proliferate on a scaffold of carbon nanotubes.
Because carbon nanotubes are not biodegradable, they behave like an inert matrix on which cells can proliferate and deposit new living material, which becomes functional, normal bone, according to the paper. They therefore hold promise in the treatment of bone defects in humans associated with the removal of tumors, trauma, and abnormal bone development and in dental implants.
Thanks to betterhumans