Lamar Jackson finally announced his trade request. In a Twitter thread posted on March 2nd, Baltimore Ravens player Jackson officially announced that he had requested to be traded from his team. After this bombshell announcement, the Ravens made their first move on March 7th by placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on him. Though Jackson has yet to sign the non-exclusive tender, the announcement has already made it clear that Jackson’s time in Baltimore is approaching an end, as he and his team have been unable to agree on extension terms.
The Tweet
Lamar Jackson posted an open letter to all his fans on his Twitter account. He started his post by thanking his fans for their consistent love and support. After appreciating his amazing fans, Jackson then urged them not to believe the rumors spread about him and instead wanted to personally answer all their questions regarding the future of his career. Then, he announced his trade request from the Ravens and stated that the Ravens had not been interested in meeting his value. After confirming that his love for the game of football and his dream to help a team win the super bowl have remained the same, Jackson stated that he just had to make a proper business decision most suitable for him and his family. Lastly, Lamar Jackson assured his fans that no matter what direction his career would take, he would forever be close to his fans of Baltimore Flock nation, and the State of Maryland fans would be able to see him again.
The Response
Understandably, it didn’t take much time for Jackson’s tweet to go viral. Without sounding very worried, Ravens coach John Harbaugh addressed the message immediately at the NFL owners’ meeting. Harbaugh still showed hope for Lamar Jackson and stated that the team would be happy if they get the chance to play football next year with Jackson in his usual quarterback position.
New Skin Grafting Machine ‘Prints’ Sheets of Human Skin
The treatment for severe burns, injuries and skin damage is all set to be transformed by a new skin-developing machine produced by Swiss company Cutiss. Called denovoCast, the machine is a kind of hi-tech printer, which produces large sheets of new and healthy skin. They are then used to repair a wider area of damaged skin. Let’s see how it works.
The Extraction From Original Skin
Considered to be the world’s first machine to produce personalized skin, the denovoCast machine can grow large sizes of skin patches, even as big as the size of a dinner plate! These are made using the patient’s own healthy skin. For this process, a postage-stamp-sized skin patch is taken from the undamaged area of the body. From this little skin patch, doctors extract stem cells, which are called the ‘master’ cells. These master cells can be developed into new healthy tissue. Along with it, collagen and keratinocytes are also extracted. Collagen is the fibrous substance of the skin, which gives our skin its elasticity. Keratinocytes are a type of skin cell that stops bacteria from entering our skin and also makes the skin waterproof.
The Creation of New Skin
The first step in the process is to add a water-based gel into the extracted mixture. Then the mixture is fed into the DenovoCast machine, added with growth factors, which are natural substances of our body. It helps in stimulating the growth of new cells. The entire new skin development process is not a quick one. At least one month is needed to produce a large size of skin sheet from the lab-mixed solution, during which time it grows up to 100 times bigger than the original harvested area. This newly formed sheet of skin is then grafted onto the burnt damaged area of the patient. The newly grafted skin samples are currently undergoing clinical trials in Europe. Trial results are likely to come in next year, but the method is already in use for a few of the traumatic burn cases.