Tentative Steps toward Liver Regeneration
October 8, 2013 | Terry Sharrer
Last year, Japanese scientist Shimya Yamanaka shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries about converting mature cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Building on that, researchers at Yokohama City University have used a combination of liver cell precursors from iPSCs, and natural stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood (endothelial and mesenchymal cells) to grow a liver mass with blood vessels and connective tissue that represents an important step to full liver regeneration. Thus far, the Yokohama team believes that this technique could generate about a third of normal liver function. MORE
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