• Question: how would you grow something out of stem cells

    Asked by emeraldtail to Luke on 16 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Luke Williams

      Luke Williams answered on 16 Mar 2018:


      The typical method is to use some sort of equipment to give the cells a bit of structure. So, if you were growing an organ, you would have a frame for the cells to “grow up”, basically.

      Now, the tricky part is really getting the stem cells to transform (differentiate) into the correct type of cell. You have to precisely control the conditions so that the cells think they are in the body and need to form the right type of cells. Also, you need to make sure that the stem cells keep making enough of themselves as well, so that you have enough cells for the whole thing you are making!

      This is an incredibly tricky process, and this is why there are not many stem cell treatments yet. Partly because of safety, but also because what make work one or two times is difficult to make work for a thousand patients or a million patients. For this reason it is very expensive.

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