MAKING THE PAPER

摘要

About three years ago George Cotsarelis, a dermatologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was studying whether stem cells in the hair follicle - the part of the skin that hair grows from - could help heal wounds. Working with mice, his team found that when the skin is cut, stem cells move quickly from the lowest portion of the follicle, or 'bulge', where they usually reside, to the surface of the skin to form new skin cells (M. Ito et al. Nature Med. 11,1351-1354; 2005). But during these experiments, postdoc Mayumi Ito noticed something unusual. New hairs also seemed to be growing inside the wound. "We really thought we were seeing things," says Cotsarelis.