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Scientist Grow Whole Functional Organ!

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It’s true!  Researchers at the University of Edinburgh announced that they had successfully developed in the lab a mature, fully functioning organ – a thymus –  grown from cells harvested from a host creature.  In this case, the animal was a mouse and the cells used to start the process were murine fibroblasts, a type of progenitor cell found in muscle tissues.  Humans have them, too.  Once the fibroblasts were isolated, scientists submitted them to specific growth factors which morphs the fibroblasts into T-cell producing thymus tissue.

(Induced thymic epithelial cells (iTEC) created from mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Credit: Nick Bredenkamp)

While still in the animal model phase, researchers hope to translate this research to human models in the future.

Read more about the complex process at IFL Science.

 

Kristen E. Strubberg is the Editor-in-Chief for TGNR. Kristen founded TGNR in 2013 - seeking to create a high quality platform for original, eclectic and substantive positive news journalism by attracting expert contributors in many varying subjects. Kristen also works as a clinical medical researcher in Cardiology, with an original background in Neuroscience. Her passion for science has translated to her science-fiction specialization, with her highly adept published insights into the best of sci-fi’s popular culture. Kristen has served as TGNR’s Editor-in-Chief since 2013.

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