British scientists are hoping to find ways to help burns victims regenerate new nerves and skin to leave minimal scarring.
It is thought humans at one time had this ability, just as the liver can regenerate itself, but it has been lost.
Researchers are looking into ways to restart the process, led by Anthony Metcalfe, professor of burns and wounds at the University of Brighton and director of research at the Blond McIndoe Research Foundation.
The foundation, based at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, has spent more than 50 years pioneering research into wound healing and reconstructive surgery.
The hospital was where the late Sir Archibald McIndoe pioneered treatments for Second World War burns victims.
Prof Metcalfe said: "We live in exciting times for interdisciplinary science, especially in the fields of burns, plastic and reconstructive surgery, wound healing, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering,"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article