The British government has decided to finance to the tune of 1.85 million pounds (some 3.5 million dollars) a company based in Cambridge that is building a robot to help treat baldness.
The most common form of baldness is caused by the masculine hormone dihydrotestosterone, which makes the follicles miniaturise and the hairs weaken before disappearing altogether.
The bioscience company Intercytex hopes to perfect a treatment that consists in taking hair follicles from the nape of the neck, multiplying them and implanting them in the area of the head where they are needed.
The financing received from the government’s Technological Programme facilitates the development of a robotic system to accelerate the meticulous process of multiplying the hair cells prior to re-implanting them.
The hair is extracted during a 30 minute operation with anaesthesia and is re-implanted three weeks later, when the cells have had enough time to grow.
Intercytex’s research is currently in Phase II (intermediate) of analysis, after the trial of a small group of volunteers proved to be safe.
© Medios Especializados
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