The journal Nature reports today that Japanese scientists used human stem cells to create “liver buds” — tiny precursors to full-fledged livers — that were then implanted into mice and functioned much like regular livers.
In other words, it appears that we’ve come our closest yet to actually building a solid-tissue human organ from stem cells. It will likely be a decade or more until this advance might help the many patients waiting desperately for transplants, but for now, stem cell experts say this is a significant breakthrough in regenerative medicine.
See the full NPR report on the experiment here, and the New York Times here. I spoke a bit earlier about the Nature report with Here & Now host Jeremy Hobson. Our conversation:
Read more http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/07/stem-cell-live
In other words, it appears that we’ve come our closest yet to actually building a solid-tissue human organ from stem cells. It will likely be a decade or more until this advance might help the many patients waiting desperately for transplants, but for now, stem cell experts say this is a significant breakthrough in regenerative medicine.
See the full NPR report on the experiment here, and the New York Times here. I spoke a bit earlier about the Nature report with Here & Now host Jeremy Hobson. Our conversation:
Read more http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/07/stem-cell-live