U.K. Government Awards a Grant for Baldness-Treating Robot

Oct 31
07:07

2006

Charlene J. Nuble

Charlene J. Nuble

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Baldness is a problem shared by millions of people all over the world especially males. Baldness in males is commonly caused by a male hormone called dihydrotestosterone. When triggered, this hormone is able to make hair follicles reduce in size, become fine, until it vanishes completely and result to baldness. According to the head honcho of Intercytex, Nick Higgins, only hair growing at the nape area was safe from the effects of dihydrotestosterone.

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Fortunately for the males however,U.K. Government Awards a Grant for Baldness-Treating Robot Articles Intercytex, a biotechnology firm based in Cambridge, is busy building a robot that may be able to treat baldness effectively through cell growth.

Present Treatments for Baldness Are Virtually IneffectiveBaldness is a problem that’s still waiting for a thoroughly effective cure, in spite of the various types of treatments available in the market today. For that reason, Intercytex’s baldness-treating robot will be welcomed with great pleasure if it proves to be successful in treating hair loss.

The company has already been successful in employing a method in which hair follicles are removed from the nape area, multiplied and then reimplanted.

The research, in which The Automation Partnership also participates to incorporate the necessary robotic technology into the process, has already created a robot that’s able to store and grow cells inside it. Besides which, The Automation Partnership is also hoping that it will be able to manufacture hair follicles in a large scale and offer it to the public. These cells are known as dermal papilla pills.

How the Robot Works

A minute sample of hair follicles is taken from a subject. These cells are then transferred to a specially-built container which allows it to grow in numbers as if it were still in its natural habitat. An exceptionally fine needle is used for injecting the multiplied cells to the subject’s baldness-prone area. Intercytex believes that each injection made can translate to an effective regrowth of hair.

At present, Intercytex’s robot is able to complete the hair-regrowth operation in thirty minutes. The experiment was performed with the help of seven males suffering from male pattern baldness. Hair cells were taken from the nape area of each individual, multiplied until they reached the required number for hair production, then lastly, the hair follicles were injected on parts of the head which required hair regrowth.

Out of the seven tested subjects, five of them had shown signs of their hair regrowing. As such, Intercytex is planning to broaden their experiments by testing the method out on twenty other subjects.

Intercytex’s baldness treating robot performs one primary function: cell production, which includes numerous procedures but all of which the robot can perform and takes approximately 3 weeks to complete; the robot is also able to perform these steps for two hundred samples.

The only thing that the U.K. firm has to focus on is ensuring that the baldness-treating robot doesn’t give the wrong sample to the wrong individual.

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