Stem cell technology allows researchers to grow bone-like material
Scientists have successfully grown small nodules of bone-like material in laboratories from different types of bone cells and stem cells. The goal is for future bone regeneration and growth, which has important applications for patients with fractured, diseased or damaged bones. The scientists from Imperial College London found that certain bone cells taken from mouse skulls and bone marrow are able to replicate many features of real bone, although the quality of the bone-like material wasn’t exactly the same. “Our study provides an important insight into how different cell sources can really influence the quality of bone that we can produce,” says Molly Stephens, a professor at the Department of Materials and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.