On Monday, The Ohio State University published on its news blog that a group of researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State College of Engineering has developed a new technology that can "generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patient's own body".

Researchers studied mice and pigs in these experiments. In a mouse that had leg injuries, within one week the chip caused active blood vessels to re-appear, and by the second week the leg was saved. The procedure only takes a second and is not invasive.

Lee, Sen and Gallego-Perez were part of a group of researchers that lodged a patent application in 2016 for an earlier iteration of TNT: a device that enables "compositions and methods for reprogramming somatic cells into induced endothelial cells". The TNT treatment process starts with a dime-sized silicon chip being placed on the surface of the skin.

The Guardian said that, according to researchers, this turns the patients' skin into a "bioreactor", allowing it to fix damaged tissue in the applied area or at another site on the body.

Executive Director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Wound Center and Director of the Ohio State University's Center for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Based Therapies.

"The concept is very simple".

This breakthrough technology is the first time cells have been reprogrammed in a live body.

In a series of lab tests, explains Sen on the university website, researchers applied the chip to the injured legs of mice that vascular scans showed had little to no blood flow.

The technology could see cells grown on a human patient's skin and then injected into their body to treat conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimers, nerve damage and strokes.

Dr Sen added: "By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced". For a long time researchers have tried to come up with a mechanism that could treat and even fix brain injuries.

"This is hard to imagine, but it is achievable, successfully working about 98 per cent of the time", said Dr. Chandan Sen, one of the joint leaders of the study. "So this is the beginning, more to come".

It doesn't require laboratory-based procedures, is non-invasive and can me implemented at the point of care.

Researchers plan to start clinical trials next year to test this technology in humans, Sen said.