This link has been bookmarked by 47 people . It was first bookmarked on 30 Apr 2008, by Greg Thompson.
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06 May 08
mandyh"I put my finger in," Mr Spievak says, pointing towards the propeller of a model aeroplane, "and that's when I sliced my finger off."
regenerative medicine clinical trial cellular matrix finger transplant bbc
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03 May 08
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02 May 08
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D. CooteyEnjoy it while it lasts. Photographs show regenerating finger. It's simply amazing.
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01 May 08
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The photos of his severed finger tip are pretty graphic. You can understand why doctors said he'd lost it for good.
Today though, you wouldn't know it. Mr Spievak, who is 69 years old, shows off his finger, and it's all there, tissue, nerves, nail, skin, even his finger print.
'Pixie dust'
How? Well that's the truly remarkable part. It wasn't a transplant. Mr Spievak re-grew his finger tip. He used a powder - or pixie dust as he sometimes refers to it while telling his story.
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Mr Speivak's brother Alan - who was working in the field of regenerative medicine - sent him the powder.
For ten days Mr Spievak put a little on his finger.
"The second time I put it on I already could see growth. Each day it was up further. Finally it closed up and was a finger.
"It took about four weeks before it was sealed."
Now he says he has "complete feeling, complete movement."
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The process he has been pioneering over the last few years involves scraping the cells from the lining of a pig's bladder.
The remaining tissue is then placed into acid, "cleaned" of all cells, and dried out.
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when the extra cellular matrix is put on a wound, scientists believe it stimulates cells in the tissue to grow rather than scar.
If they can perfect the technique, it might mean one day they could repair not just a severed finger, but severely burnt skin, or even damaged organs
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Brian SaloThis is freaking amazing... Even if it's a hoax, I'm finding this brother and buying some powder off of him just in case.. I'd like to see if it could work on something a little larger than a finger... a leg perhaps?
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The man who grew a finger
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30 Apr 08
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