In a significant advance in organ regeneration and gene therapy, researchers created a new, healthy skin that covers almost the entire body of a 7-year-old boy with a life-threatening genetic disorder associated with skin blistering.  The new skin remains functional after 21 months, and doesn't blister or require ointment or medication, according to the team of scientists and doctors from Austria, Germany and Italy who described the case in a paper in the journal Nature. The child in the study has Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (JEB), part of a family of rare, often lethal, skin-blistering diseases. Epidermolysis Bullosa affects only around 1 in every 20,000 births in the U.S.; JEB is a severe form of the disease, often leading to death in early childhood.

Privately-held Progenity Inc. snagged $125 million in funding that will allow the company to accelerate development of its gastrointestinal platform.  This morning, the California-based company announced the privately placed Series B funding round, which was led by a fund managed by an existing investor, Athyrium Capital Management. Harry Stylli, 

the founder and board chairman, said the financing round will be used to support the development of its GI platform targeting diagnostics and therapeutics for the GI tract. That new system includes precision molecular diagnostics tools, precision therapeutics, microbiome analytics, and consumer health nutrition.

The world's biggest eyeglass frame maker is planning to merge with the largest lens maker in a tie-up U.S. antitrust experts fear will be bad news for consumers, but could still be approved.  France's Essilor , the prescription lens maker, has asked U.S. regulators to bless its merger with Italy's Luxottica , the leading frame maker, to create a company that would produce everything from Ray-Bans to Giorgio Armani frames, and be the top U.S. eyeglass retail outlet as well as a leading provider of vision insurance.