Scientists Cure Baldness (In Mice)

It's believed that each of us is stuck with the number of follicles we're born with. Once these stop producing hair, we're fated to buzzcuts, combovers, birth defect-inducing chemical treatments or simple resignation. (Sure, some lucky guys go bald-and-proud, but not everyone has such an aesthetically pleasing head.)

But if the latest mouse results hold true for humans, there's hope for baldies yet: mice with a section of skin removed regrew more hair follicles than before when they had elevated levels of a single gene. When the gene was blocked, mice regrew fewer follicles.

The researchers said that their findings "opened a window" for new treatments not only for baldness, but for other aspects of wound healing and regeneration.

British expert Professor Des Tobin, from the University of Bradford, said: "This paper provides convincing evidence that the skin has remarkable powers of regeneration, not just repair as previously known.

He added: "The implications of this observation are many fold, but principally perhaps for what it tells us about the reprogramming power of adult stem cells, and it applications in regenerative medicine and wound healing."

Vain creatures that we are, however, men tend to care a bit more about hair than major scientific insight into the skin's regenerative powers.
So get cracking, scientists! To judge by my own stubbly scalp, you've got about seven years to make this work.
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Related Wired coverage here.
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Gene Find Triggers Baldness Hope [BBC]
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Image: Jay Cuthrell*