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5 Technologies Scientists Are Currently Pursuing to Improve Healthspan
Science may one day open the way to the ‘Fountain of Youth’.
Doctors restore patient’s sight with stem cells, offering new hope for cure to blindness
Researchers safely and effectively implanted a specially engineered patch of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from stem cells to treat people with sudden severe AMD.
Scientists make transparent bones to study diseases like osteoporosis
The innovative method could help millions of people who suffer from osteoporosis.
Mouse eggs engineered entirely in the lab for the first time — later lead to healthy adults
Everyone says this is a massive breakthrough in biology.
Scientists use embryonic stem cells to create bone, heart muscle in just 5 days
Healing wounds might become a whole lot easier.
Eye tissue grown from scratch in the lab used to restore sight to blind rabbits
Japanese researchers found a novel way to grow corneas in a dish starting from skin cells. The corneas were implanted in the eyes of blind rabbits, which could then see.
Better, simple way to regrow damaged corneas shines hope for blind patients
A novel and highly effective technique was found to enhance regrowth of human corneal tissue to restore vision, using a newly identified molecule that acts as a marker for limbal cells – stem cells that are paramount to retinal regeneration. The findings could greatly improve the vision of patients suffering from severe burns, victims of chemical injury, and others with
Mice with multiple sclerosis walk and run again after human stem cell treatment
In a feat that surprised even the scientists who made the experiment, mice disabled by a condition similar to multiple sclerosis (MS) began to walk and even run again after human stem cells had been transplanted. The findings could potentially offer new means of treating MS, a terribly disease which plagues some 2.3 million people worldwide. Growing stem cells and new legs University
Blood from world’s oldest woman tells us why life reaches its limits
No matter how much some would like to avoid this prospect, death is inevitable for all living beings (or is it?). Yet, some people at least live longer than others. A great deal of attention has been drawn to longevity for obvious reasons, but any effort to prolong life needs to start with the very root of the problem –
Most advanced lab-grown muscle can self-heal, mouse implant shows
Heralded as one of the biggest advances in the field, scientists at Duke University have engineered muscle tissue that is up to ten times stronger than anything previously achieved. The muscle can contract similarly to native neonatal skeleton muscle and, most importantly, it demonstrates self-healing ability – again, just like the real thing. To demonstrate their work, the researchers also
Chimeric organ harvesting: growing human organs inside pigs
Sure to raise a slew of controversy and debate, researchers in Japan are currently investigating the possibility of growing human organs, like kidneys, livers or even hearts, inside pigs. A real life chimeric tale, as if spawned from the Island of Dr. Moreau. The challenges are numerous though, both technical (we’re talking about growing human organs in a foreign host),
First functioning lung and airway cells grown from human stem cells
Biotechnology is growing fast and the findings researchers are making the field are nothing short of breathtaking. Previously, ZME Science reported in the past few years alone a series of milestone premiers: the first bioengineered kidney and 3-D human kidney cells, the first functioning blood vessels, the first teeth-like structures, a bioengineered heart that beats on its own and many more. All of
Kidney 3-d structures from human stem cells made for the first time
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have for the first time coaxed human stem cells into forming three-dimensional cellular structures similar to those found in our kidneys. The breakthrough could provide a valuable footing for upcoming work that might eventually lead to fully functioning lab-grown kidneys, based on patients’ own cells for bio-compatibility. In its current stage, lab-grown kidney-like
Scientists grow brain-like tissue in petri dish
Most medical research looking to identify the mechanisms of a disease or test treatments rely on animal models. While very useful, mice for instance (a favorite lab pet for researchers) do not have nearly the same brain structure or genes as humans. Even if some genes and proteins scientists target are the same both in mice and humans, it will
Scientists engineer heart in the lab that beats on its own
Regenerative medicine has come a long way, and while important strides forward have been made, scientists are still toiling with ways to completely grow organs in labs. There are millions of people worldwide suffering from afflictions to organs like the liver, lungs or heart – for many of them a transplant is they’re only chance at living a normal life
First artificial ‘meat’ burger, cultured in a petri dish, tasted by panel of experts
A few years ago ZME Science reported how a group of researchers at University of Maastricht in Holland were on a mission to grow the first lab cultured ‘hamburger’. After five years of painstaking work and €250,000 invested (backed by Google’s Sergey Brin), an edible version was finally developed and what better way to put it to test than…eat it! As such, a
Researchers grow teeth-like structure using stem cells from urine
A new study performed by scientists in China has further elevated stem cell research after they successfully grew teeth-like structures using cells derived from an unlikely source: urine. Eventually, they hope that human stem cells could provide the basis for a tooth bud that could be transplanted into the jaw of the patient. Some of you might find it weird that
Scientists create functional blood vessels from adult stem cells
Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have successfully grown and inserted functional blood vessels into animal models after they used vascular precursor cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These blood vessels lasted for as long as nine months, much longer than any previous attempt, making the Harvard researchers’ efforts seem extremely promising. Patients suffering from damaged blood vessels,
How cells and cell fragments move in opposite directions in response to electric field
Researchers at University of California, Davis have shown for the first time how whole cells and fragments orient and move in response to electrical stimuli like an electric field. Surprisingly enough, their results show that whole and fragments move in opposite directions, despite being governed by the same electric field. The findings help better our understanding of how the human body
