Viable Stem Cells May Now Be Manufactured - and Cheaper

October 3rd, 2010 - Step by step, Mankind is getting closer to longer life spans, and ultimately, immortality. Stem cells have shown promise with several applications which could ultimately re-grow organs and tissues of the human body. But up until now, harvesting stem cells was a costly, and time consuming endeavor. Hooray for life! It's even conceivable to imagine maybe our children, may never need to know death.

Researcher Techung Lee, PhD, University of Buffalo associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical engineering in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, led a project within which scientists have succeeded in manufacturing viable stem cells in laboratory conditions. Clearing this incredible hurdle was one which now allows stem cells to not only be more readily available for research, but also less expensive. Rather than the prospect of future stem cell therapies only being available to the super wealthy, now, there is a reasonable chance the "average person" may someday be able to afford such treatments, thanks to the development of what's commonly called mesenchymal stem cells. UB researchers simply use the acronym MSC-Universal.

The possibilities are really quite endless. Stem cells are believed to be the key to treating a wide range of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, paralysis, and possibly even the re-growing of limbs lost in various accidents. In the past, scientists faced the challenge of either harvesting stem cells on an as-needed basis, or that stem cells would sometimes cause cancerous tumors in organs they were applied to. These newly modified stem cells functions differ from normal stem cells only in that they do not age, and they do not cause tumor growth in animal testing. While there are still bound to be complications surely somewhere along the line of furthering research, this still means humanity might yet make it out alive. There's also the added bonus of seeing results without injecting MSC-Universal directly into the organ being treated, but rather, simple injections into skeletal muscle.

Lee is not the lone wolf in this belief either. UB has already begun the patent application process to protect the discovery. The invention includes both a human and a porcine line of laboratory grown stem cells. But this isn't the end of the possibilities for applications. Dr Lee is also quoted as saying "I imagine that if these cells become routinely used in the future, one can generate a line from each ethnic group for each gender for people to choose from." What a great time to be alive.

Source:

ScienceDaily.com

Previously published on Gather.