Human Gelatin...

Gelatin is found in everything from Jell-O and marshmallows to cosmetics and candles. But the current method of taking gelatin from the skin and bones of cows and pigs has a number of drawbacks, including variation in quality from batch to batch, the potential for transmitting infectious diseases like Mad Cow and the possibility of triggering immune system responses in humans. We may not have to rely on pig bones for  gelatin forever, though the newest option--human derived gelatin--isn't too appetizing.
Beijing University of Chemical Technology researchers created the slightly creepy productby sticking human gelatin genes into a strain of yeast that can produce gelatin with reliable features--and a virtual guarantee that it won't be contaminated with pathogens or cause immune responses (because the gelatin molecules are based on human DNA sequences). No word on when the gelatin will be available for commercial use, but there are other companies working on similar products.

LifeBond, an Israeli maker of biosurgical products, raised over $20 million in a third round of financing led by Giza Venture Capital and Aurum Ventures, with Johnson & Johnson Development Corp joining the process

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has invested in biological sealant developer Lifebond Ltd. as part of the company's $20 million third financing round. Giza Venture Capital and Aurum Ventures MKI Ltd. are leading the round alongside current investors Pitango Venture Capital, GlenRock Israel, the Zitelman Group, and Lifebond co-chairman Robert Taub.
Johnson & Johnson acquired Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, which Taub founded, for $425 million in 2006. It is interesting to see that Johnson & Johnson is investing in another company, which like Omrix, is developing a biological sealant.
Lifebond's flagship product is a surgical sealant for tissue after surgery to shorten the bowel. It partly competes with Omrix, and it seems that both Taub and Johnson & Johnson believe that Lifebond's products are as good as Omrix's products, but which Omrix's technology cannot produce.
Lifebond CEO Ishay Attar and COO Orahn Preiss-Bloom co-founded Lifebond in 2007, in the aftermath of the 2006 Second Lebanon War in order to develop next-generation would closure solutions for soldiers on the battlefield.
Lifebond will use proceeds from the financing round to complete preclinical trials of its LifeSeal sealant product to prevent life-threatening blood and fluid leakage from the intestine during surgery. Trials for LifeSeal for intestinal surgery under US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will use premarket approval (PMA) protocols, the longer protocol for medical devices. Lifebond believes that it can bring the product to market within two years.
Lifebond is also developing hemostats that are in early clinical trials and a product to prevent hernias.