Scientists Create Blood From Human Skin

Miniature versions created with stem cells

(NEWSER) - Scientists have grown human livers with stem cells, the BBC reports. The downside is they're really small, about the size of walnuts, and it will take lots more research and probably at least five years before the development is more than just a joke to forward to heavy-drinking friends. "Not only must we learn how to grow billions of liver cells at one time in order to engineer livers large enough for patients, we must determine whether these organs are safe to use," says the lead Wake Forest researcher. More»

Practice could become standard orthopedics

(NEWSER) - Before the Super Bowl, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu got a dose of an exciting new medicine: their own blood. They join at least one Major League pitcher, 20 pro soccer players, and many more casual athletes as early adopters of platelet-rich plasma therapy, a shockingly simple new procedure that proponents say could revolutionize sports medicine and all of orthopedics. More»

Advance could save heart disease patients, regrow other organs

(NEWSER) - Scientists rebuilt rat and pig hearts using stem cells taken from the recipients themselves, the Telegraph reports—a medical breakthrough that could help the 22 million people who suffer from heart failure worldwide. The technique, called whole organ decellularization, produced the world’s first functioning “bioartificial” heart within eight days after researchers injected it with fresh stem cells. More»

Rats' cardiac tissue regenerated, halting progress of disease

(NEWSER) - Researchers are using human embryonic stem cells to regrow heart muscle and actually stop the progression of heart failure in rats. Although stems cells injected into rat heart tissue had previously been shown to become muscle tissue, very few had survived. Now a team from the University of Washington has succeeded in turning as many as half the cells into heart muscle, and keeping them alive. More»

(NEWSER) - The British government has reversed its stance on the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos and will propose allowing scientists to use them as sources of stem cells. Scientists developing treatments for incurable diseases would be allowed to grow the hybrid embryos for no longer than two weeks, and implanting them into a human womb would not be permitted. More»