RNL Bio located in Korea has already launched commercial stem cell therapy for pets like dogs and cats with spinal cord injury since 2008. Now they have announced they are beginning trials of the same treatment on humans. On April 30th the Korean FDA approved its human clinical study to treat patients with spinal cord injury using their product ‘RNL-Astrostem’ that is based on fat derived adult stem cells.

In early 2009 the U.S. FDA permitted Geron Corp to conduct a clinical trial using embryonic stem cells to treat patients with spinal cord injuries. However the RNL Bio method may prove less controversial due to using adult stem cells.

Read more: First Adult Stem Cell Human Trial For Spinal Cord Injury Underway

A hospital in Spain has carried out the world's first full face transplant. The Barcelona facility said it took a 30-member medical team 24 hours to perform the procedure on the man who had been in an accident five years ago. Apparently he was a farmer who accidentally shot himself and wished to remain anonymous.

Read more: Worlds First Full Face Transplant

Organovo has developed a Bio-Printer. It works by taking cells from a donor and growing them in a lab. The cells are then printed in layers to create any desired 3D shape. Once printed, the cells are then nourished and nature does the rest. By taking cells from a patient themselves, it eliminates rejection, and the need for anti-rejection drugs. So far the Organovo Bio-Printer can make blood vessels in around an hour. Eventually scientists are hoping they'll be able to print entire organs, making organ waiting lists a thing of the past.

Read more: Printing Human Tissue - Organovo

Celling Technologies has now launched its latest method for the isolation of adult stem cells. The Res-Q device was developed by ThermoGenesis Corporation to provide an easy to use, point-of-care system to compliment their MXP system currently being marketed in the United States and several international markets.

The Res-Q device is the second point-of-care cell processing system by Celling that utilizes a functionally closed system to eliminate sterility issues while providing consistent, reliable adult stem cell concentrations within minutes.

Read more: The Res-Q System for Adult Stem Cell Therapy

AxoGen, Inc. has announced its U.S. market launch of AxoGuard™ Nerve Protectorand AxoGuard™ Nerve Connector for the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries. With licensed technologies from the University of Florida, the University of Texas, and Emory University, researchers at AxoGen have developed an innovative technology platform making it possible to process allograft nerves while preserving the relevant characteristics of the three dimensional scaffold of the nerve tissue.

Read more: AxoGen launches AxoGuard Nerve Protector and Nerve Connector

In just a few years time people around the world may be getting open wounds sealed by laser rather than by stitches. Scientists at Tel Aviv University have discovered that by carefully controlling the heat of a laser, they can seal a wound shut - rather than cutting flesh open! Sealing skin closed with the laser is less likely to tear and is more watertight than traditional stitches. So far, experiments on patients in operating rooms have been successful and their wounds have healed faster and with less scarring.

Read more: New Laser Seals Wounds and Replaces Stitches

Avita Medical is an Australian company with a product able to treat burns, improve scars or smooth irregular coloured areas of your body, leaving minimal scarring, simply by having a consultant spray on new skin.

Its a clinically proven unique culture technology from which hundreds of patients world wide have already benefited.

Because the new cells are autologous, grown from a patient's own cells, there is no risk of rejection and no risk of disease transmission. In addition, because they are in a spray form, applying the new cells takes just minutes.

Read more: Regrowing Skin using ReCell

A face transplant is a still-experimental procedure to replace all or part of a person's face. They are controversial because they carry heavy risks and are performed to improve a patient's quality of life rather than as a life-saving operation. These are becoming known as socially required surguries. There are also concerns that as the operation becomes more routine and safer it could be used for purely cosmetic purposes or as a means of altering identities.

The world's first partial face transplant on a person occured on November 27, 2005. Each time face transplants have been successful, more and more seems to be attempted. By Dec 2008 the Cleveland Clinic performed the worlds 4th face transplant attempting 80% removal and replacement.

Read more: Near Total Face Transplants Now Possible

A company called Spectranetics is revolutionising the way arteries are unblocked by allowing doctors to clear them with a high powered laser rather than using traditional stents or by-pass surgeries. While the procedure is not new, doctors around the world are now starting to perform it as they aquire the equipment. The technique is saving lives as well as limbs. Spectranetics offers the only Excimer Laser System approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of multiple cardiovascular diseases.

Engineer’s at Spectranetics discovered using concentrated ultraviolet light delivered from the Laser, in short, controlled, energy pulses by our own fiber-optic delivery devices could be a valuable medical device in removing build-up of arterial disease within the body.

Read more: Unblocking Arteries with the Excimer Laser System