A couple of Israeli scientists may have achieved what all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not: Gelrin, a newly engineered gel developed by Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology that mends bones at the molecular level and speeds healing, could have far-reaching benefits for the accident-prone. Reports J.:
With some one million orthopedic bone substitution procedures performed annually in the United States alone, Gelrin could have widespread applications. It could reduce the need for bone transplants and heal bone defects caused by cancer, trauma or age-related degeneration; be used to treat sports injuries; and aid in spinal fusion operations.
But can it put Humpty together again?