Why Can't I Comb My Hair?

 

    Have you ever tried combing your hair and wondered why it won't detangle or style the way you want it to? Most parents started to get worried when they realized their child's hair was different from others. Luckily, they aren't alone. Human geneticist Regina Betz of University Hospital Bonn in Germany and her team linked three genes that causes this silvery, spangly, spun glass hair. This is known as uncombable hair syndrome when the hair tends to grow in opposite directions. Currently there is no treatment, however, most kids outgrow these symptoms once adolescents. The gene PADI3 encodes an enzyme involved in hair shaft formation. Mutations within the PADI3 gene can disrupt hair structure. Some of the cases studied were linked to variants of TGM3 or TCHH which affect hair shaft structure. Uncombable hair syndrome isn't linked with any other health conditions which is a relief for parents. 

The Future of Hair: 3D-Bioprinting

The idea of combining hair follicles and 3D printing sounds like the start of a science fiction movie. The craziness of science fiction movies is well known. This experiment held by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute showed an abundance of advantages to their remarkable innovation. By using 3D- bioprinting it offers to build upon the current knowledge obtained from skin grafting. 

Now, we are at the point where skin grafts can't fully mimic human skin without the production of hair. In order to understand why scientists are doing this, it's important to highlight the benefits of hair follicles. Hair follicles are most known for their supportive role. They provide benefits such as hair growth, thermoregulation, and protection with a much needed thank you to our stem cells that aid the skin to heal. 

It's already hard to believe that 3d-bioprinting can be successfully done at a cellular level. The printers can effectively produce skin tissue with working blood cells, which is amazing. It’s almost impossible to comprehend. However, we are still at the start of this sci-fi movie. Scientists are consistently working in order to achieve an even bigger goal. Not only are they working on skin grafts with hair follicles that strangely mimic our skin, they also would like to explore the unknown treatments, hair rejuvenation, tropical drug testing, and dermatological testing that can further expand our current knowledge of the skin.

 This sounds great, but we are nowhere near achieving these goals. it does make sense; the skin is the largest organ of the human body, providing an extra layer of complexity.  The main issue currently is the 3D printed hair follicle lifespan only lasting up to three weeks. Therefore, research on expanding the lifespan of hair follicles is necessary and a top priority. The main objective is to allow the hair shaft and soon enough hair follicles to mature. Once accomplished, it could be safe to say life is a true sci-fi movie. Moreover, it’s wonderful to envision the plethora of innovations that this technology could open the door for. 

Links: 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231115113440.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8283073/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Y_gf6DD5E

Having a bad hair day?

Everyone has had a bad hair bad at least once in their lifetime, and if they haven’t their lucky. Most people would say it’s because they need to take better care of it, or learn how to do it. But recently, scientists have found that your bad hair day, may be due to a rare genetic mutation,

They refer to this condition as, “uncombable hair syndrome”. There are three genes that are involved in this mutation: PADI3, TGM3, and TCHH. They described the hairs with this condition as dry, frizzy and pale, and absolutely impossible to comb flat. One could be diagnosed with this condition after the hairs are split in half and placed under an election microscope; if the hair has the uncombable mutation it will appear triangular or heart-shaped at the cross-section and grooved from the root to end. Luckily this mutation and condition has no impact on their life, except for a few bad hair days. 

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/11/uncombable-hair-syndrome-is-real-and-now-we-know-what-causes-it/

Uncombable Hair Syndrome

 A recent study done at the University of Bonn and Toulouse have found three genes involved in forming the hair that are responsible for causing the "uncombable hair syndrome." The uncombable hair syndrome sounds exactly like what it is, hair that is extremely hard to comb. It could be due to either knots, frizzy, dry: which most of the times the people that deal with these problems try different things to see if they are the ones causing it. Either changing hair shampoo, conditioners, adding oils, trying different combs, changing the water temper to cold water instead of hot, the list just keeps going on. Since being announced in 1973, a little over 100 people have been diagnosed but scientist say that a lot more people have it, just most people don't go to a doctor for it where it would be record. Most people don't think too much of it an just deal with it. This syndrome is most noticeable in children, as a person matures the hair can turn somewhat normal.


The study was done by scientist from eight different countries working together. They were able to pinpoint mutations in three genes (PADI3, TGM3, and TCHH). PADI3 and TGM3 "contain the assembly instructions for enzymes, while the third --TCHH -- contain an important protein for the hair shaft"(Sciencedaily). The study found that if any one of these three genes has a mutation, it would affect the other two. This was shown in mice. In which a mice had either PADI3 or TGM33 mutated which lead the mice to have fur anomalies. This would lead to the uncombable hair syndrome in humans as well.




https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161117082501.htm

Unibrow Genetics

Kaustubh Adhikari and a team based out of University College in London have uncovered some clues as to the genetics behind people's hairiness. The research team has analyzed 6,630 people based in Latin America who had a mix of Caucasian, African American, and Native American ancestry. From their analysis they have found why some people have bushy unibrows, as well as other genes that code for hair thickness, facial hair growth, and others. It was shown that separate genes code for hair type, beard thickness, eyebrow thickness, and unibrow presence. They concluded that this wide variety of traits is a result of people sexual preferences. This discovery can have multiple applications most notably in forensics. They feel it could help police build a portrait of criminal based on just one single hair. Along with this it could have applications with drugs that help with hair color, hair loss, and other such things.

I chose this article, honestly because the word unibrow got my attention. I mean, how often do you see that word in a news headline. However, I did find it interesting how many different genes code for something that seems simple. Its not just one gene that codes for hair, its one for hair color, one for hair texture, one for hair thickness, and so on. It can make you appreciate all of the diversities in one's appearance. They identified, at least in the nature article, 5 different genes (IRF4, PRSS53, EDAR, FOXL2, and PAX3) all related to hair features and surely these are not the only ones. I felt like theis help shed light on the applications of genetic study as well as just how much goes into making ones appearance.