Researchers are harnessing the tools of genetic engineering to develop potential treatments for human hair loss. dNovo, a biotech startup, claims to have reprogrammed human stem cells into follicle-forming cells and transferred them into the mouse above which you can see has grown a nice tuft, albeit in an odd location. From Technology Review:
In addition to dNovo, a company called Stemson (its name is a portmanteau of "stem cell" and "Samson") has raised $22.5 million from funders including from the drug company AbbVie. Cofounder and CEO Geoff Hamilton says his company is transplanting reprogrammed cells onto the skin of mice and pigs to test the technology[…]
So is stem-cell technology going to cure baldness or become the next false hope? Hamilton, who was invited to give the keynote at this year's Global Hair Loss Summit, says he tried to emphasize that the company still has plenty of research ahead of it. "We have seen so many [people] come in and say they have a solution. That has happened a lot in hair, and so I have to address that," he says. "We're trying to project to the world that we are real scientists and that it's risky to the point I can't guarantee it's going to work."
image: dNovo
