Lab Grown Stem Cells Made Safer
Stem cells have been a topic of social and medical controversy for over a decade, but new research may have found a way to resolve a great deal of the argument against the use of these potentially life-saving cells.
When we hear "stem cell" we often think of the kind that is uniquely found within human embryos. These cells poses the ability to grow into any cell in the human body -- an ability that presents the medical world with a means to "build" human organs for transplants from the ground up. Unfortunately, these cells normally come at a cost, as harvesting them requires the destruction of a fertilized human egg.
Other stem cells, adult stem cells, come at less of a moral cost but are more restricted in use. These cells, which are taken from living human tissue, can be encouraged to divide and multiply, creating tissue from whatever organ they were originally harvested from. These are promising in medicine as well, providing an early look at how to repair damaged or sickened organs. Unfortunately, these cells can only be grown on other human cells, a process that is -- according to Medical News Today -- " risky, as the cells could be contaminated and may transmit disease to the patient."
But now new research has determined that a third option may be viable. A team of scientists at the University of Surrey in the U.K. and Prof. Peter Donovan from the University of California have published a study through Applied Materials & Interfaces that suggests stem cells can be grown on imitation "scaffolding" to the same effect as culturing them alongside human cells.
The study explains that stem cells can be cultured on carbon nanotube scaffolding as if they were being cultured within a human body, allowing the cells to grown safely in a laboratory without risk of contamination.
According to the study, this technique could have a significant impact on the safety and potential of tissue replacement after disease or injury in the near future.
The study was published by Applied Material & Interfaces on January 23.
Feb 06, 2014 05:34 PM EST
