Stem Cell Researchers Just Figured Out How to Create New Embryos

Stem Cell Researchers Just Figured Out How to Create New Embryos

A team of researchers from the University of Virginia just made scientific history: They figured out how to turn stem cells into full blown fish embryos. In other words, scientists can now control embryonic development, a key to being able to grow organs and even entire organism from stem cells.

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Scientists Cured Paralysis in Mice with Stem Cells and Lasers

Scientists Cured Paralysis in Mice with Stem Cells and Lasers

This is wild. Chasing the elusive dream of curing paralysis, a team of scientists used stem cells and optogenetics to circumvent the central motor system of lab mice whose nerves had been cut. This enabled them to blast individual motor neurons with a laser, triggering movement in the legs of the mice.

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Scientists Use Acid to Turn Blood Cells into Stem Cells in 30 Minutes

Scientists Use Acid to Turn Blood Cells into Stem Cells in 30 Minutes

This is a game changer, folks. Whereas mining stem cells has been either an ethical quandary or a months-long affair, scientist can now turn any old blood cells into stem cells in just 30 minutes—by dipping them in acid.

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Scientists Just Took a Huge Step Towards Curing Baldness

Scientists Just Took a Huge Step Towards Curing Baldness

Hair plugs, comb overs and toupées beware; a team of researchers from Columbia has developed a way to induce new human hair growth for the first time ever. It’s not just the fact that they can just grow hair that’s so exciting, though. It’s that they can grow your hair.

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Scientists 3D-print embryonic stem cells, pave the way for lab-made organ transplants

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3D printers already have a firm footing the commercial market, with more than 20 models available for well-heeled DIYers, and the technology’s appeal isn’t lost on the scientific community. A team at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland has developed a method for 3D-printing clusters of human embryonic stem cells in a variety of sizes. Researchers have successfully printed 3D cells before, but this is the first time that embryonic cell cultures, which are especially delicate, have been built in three dimensions. Human embryonic stem cells can replicate almost any type of tissue in the human body — and the scientists at Heriot-Watt believe that lab-made versions could one day be used to make organ transplants, thereby rendering donors unnecessary. In the nearer future, 3D-printed stem cells could be used to make human tissue models for drug testing; effectively eliminating the need for animal testing. Makes that Burritob0t look a little less ambitious, doesn’t it?

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Via: Inhabitat, BBC

Source: Heriot-Watt University

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