by +Richard Holbrooke – Schwann cells boost and amplify nerve
growth in animal models, but their clinical use has been held
back because they are difficult, time-consuming and costly to
culture. A University of Sheffield team, led by Professor John
Haycock, has developed a new technique with adult rat tissue
which overcomes all these problems, producing Schwann cells in
less than half the time and at much lower cost. “The ability of
Schwann cells to boost nerve growth was proved many years ago in
animals, but if you want to use this technique with patients,
the problem is: where do you get enough cells from?” said
Professor Haycock, from the University’s Department of Materials
Science and Engineering. “To reduce immune rejection, the cells
have to be grown from the patient’s own tissue. Of course, you
want to take the smallest amount of tissue necessary, so the
technique must be efficient. It must also be fast, so treatment
can begin as soon as possible after injury. For clinical use, it
must also provide pu