(RNN) - Ohio State University developed a new device that researchers say can start healing organs in a fraction of a second.
The device uses a technique called Tissue Nanotransfection, or TNT, to reprogram existing skin cells to repair injured or aging tissue.
The device sits on the skin, and an intense electric field is applied through it, injecting genes into skin cells and turning them into other types of cells to treat diseased conditions.
TNT can potentially save lives of car crash victims and deployed soldiers injured on site, according to USA Today.
“By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced,” the study’s co-leader Chandan Sen said. “We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.”
If successful, this would be the first time that cells were reprogrammed in a living body, a scientific breakthrough.
The technology is pending FDA approval, but Sen expects it to be tested on human in 2017.
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