Robert A. Avila, PE, MCE (Biomedical)

Structural engineering is currently where I earn my bread and butter. However, I have a life long calling to research. And, my greatest desire is to work to develop a system approach to limb regeneration.

Many animals can regenerate organs, limbs, and other tissues. Some can regenerate an entire new copy of the original from just a small fraction.

All living things, from plants to insects to reptiles to mammalian land animals, can regenerate an entirely new living thing according to its own kind. Apple trees produce seeds which grow into new apple trees. Female mammals produce young of the same species, and the cycle repeats and can repeat ad infinitum, as best we know.

In other words, somewhere in every living being is the instruction set that can initiate regeneration. Some animals have this set of instruction currently active with various levels of application.

Mankind has this power as well. A second set of teeth grows. Some humans grow more than two sets. Man can regrow a new finger nail if it is lost. Young children can even regenerate a finger tip, if it is accidentally severed. All men can lose up to a fourth of a healthy liver, and it also will regrow to full size.

But, how can man activate the full, latent ability to regenerate any lost part? The answer to this question is to be the goal of my life. I am transitioning from inanimate structure design to biological structural research.

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