ANIMESH SINHA, MD, PhD: David, I think what's been exciting for dermatologists and their patients alike are the tremendous advances that have occurred over the last couple decades in hair transplantation surgery. You may all remember some strangers on the street or friends of our who had the old-fashioned plugs that were the horror stories from two or three decades ago. The science and the surgical techniques have evolved tremendously to single-graft transplants and micrografts that have allowed for much more natural redefinition of the hairline. So there is a tremendous advance, and with new biology and science coming about that Angela's going to come to, I think there is even more potential in the near future.
DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Angela, what exactly? We mentioned cloning of sheep, and now cloning of hair, so explain what that's all about.
ANGELA CHRISTIANO, PhD: Let's talk about definitions a little first. When we talk about cloning a sheep, we're not talking here about trying to recreate a whole person from a single hair follicle, so the challenge isn't nearly as great as it was to make an entire organism from one cell. Really, what we want to be able to do is nothing more than use your body's own cells to regenerate structures that have begun to atrophy or die. The technology, more broadly called tissue regeneration or cell engineering is being widely applied through many areas of medicine -- people trying to recreate vessels or to recreate cartilage or to get your body to do what it knows how to do, but which somehow over time has either been injured or lost the ability to do.
