Stem cells for baldness

Ken Washenik, MD, PhD New York University Medical Center, has implemented the idea to harvest healthy follicle stem cells and to multiply them in vitro. New follicle stem cells are grown in laboratory cultures. Then they are attached to tiny skin-cell scaffolds and implanted into bald areas of the scalp.

"The idea is to take these cells from the bulb of the hair, grow them in culture, and come back with an increased number of hair seeds you could inject into the scalp," Washenik says. "You start with a small number of hairs and come back with a larger number of hair seeds, and inject them into one area, and just create brand-new hair follicles."

Moreover, researchers have discovered that some follicle cells do more than regenerate. They give off chemical signals. Nearby follicle cells -- which have shrunk during the aging process -- respond to these signals by regenerating and once again making healthy hair. It works in lab mice. And, Washenik says, it works in human skin cultures, too.

"So this three-to-four-years-away number is not fantasy," Washenik says. "It is biotechnology research, and nature can always step in the way and slow things down. But the concept of tissue-engineered hair growth to create a new hair organ looks very real."