Source: Florida State University
Date: May 21, 2007
Summary:
A Florida State University researcher is looking to develop new technologies that could replace bone mass lost to the disease, as well as treat traumatic bone injuries such as those suffered in automobile accidents or combat and generate bone cells in a laboratory that then could be transplanted into human patients. The research involves growing human mesenchymal, or adult, stem cells in a laboratory using a device he has patented known as a perfusion bioreactor. By subjecting the stem cells to very specific conditions that mimic those they would encounter in the human body, he seeks to determine what type of cell they turn into - in this case, bone. The bone cells then would be combined with a biomaterial to create tissue similar in structure and density to that of actual bone.
