Medical research to benefit people is first conducted in animals. Creating a new biomedical model by inserting human immune cells into pigs may lead to new insights and treatments.
The tear glands were cultured as ‘organoids’ in a Petri dish.
Hubrecht Institute/Marie Bannier-Hélaouët
New strategy helps build synthetic organs from scratch. This enabled the researchers to grow functioning liver tissue in the lab that could be transplanted into mice with liver disease.
Brain organoids are tiny models that neuroscientists use to learn more about how the brain grows and works. But new research finds important differences between the model and the real thing.
The groundbreaking Xenobots were created by a team from Tufts University and the University of Vermont.
Douglas Blackiston, Tufts University
Xenobots have been called the world’s first “living robots”. They are made entirely of living tissue, and can be programmed to move towards a certain object.
Tammar wallabies are one of many species that can pause their pregnancies until the time is right.
LCAT Productions / Shutterstock
We worry about AI developing consciousness, but brain organoids may be more likely to do so.
Currently, stem cell based treatments are still mostly experimental, and while some results are encouraging, several clinical trials have failed.
(Shutterstock)
Stem cells show much promise, both for testing drugs and for treating disease. But the hype around them has been dangerous, as most treatments are in very experimental stages and can cause harm.
Lab-grown organs may not be so easy to transplant into a patient.
ValentinaKru/Shutterstock.com
Tobias Deuse, University of California, San Francisco
The idea behind regenerative medicine is that the patient is both the donor and recipient of healthy tissue grown from stem cells. But sometimes the transplanted cells are rejected. Now we know why.
Eucomis autumnalis is more than just a plant - it could play a role in biomedical engineering.
Gurcharan Singh/Shutterstock
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is based on three key requirements working together: signals from body tissues and organs, responding stem cells, and scaffolds.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), shown here as tiny purple spheres, causes the disease known as AIDS.
Mark Ellisman and Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research
Dangerous open wounds known as cutaneous ulcers are common in people with diabetes and bedsores. Now scientists have figured out how to reprogram the cells inside these wounds to heal themselves.
Figuring out what causes diseases like autism, schizophrenia and depression is tricky. Now Stanford University researchers are turning blood into brain cells to study these diseases in a dish.
‘Mini brains’ can be grown in the lab, and brains of decapitated pigs were recently ‘kept alive’ for a day and a half. But what makes a conscious brain?
Google co-founder Sergey Brin arrives for the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences awards on Dec. 12, 2013, in Moffett Field, Calif. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences recognizes excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The nomination deadline for science’s most lucrative prize – the Breakthrough Prize – is looming. Why has no Canadian ever received this prize, despite groundbreaking discoveries?
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne
Executive Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science and Director of the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong