Source: Stanford University
Date: December 10, 2008
Summary:
Like it or not, your living room probably says a lot about you. Given a few uninterrupted moments to poke around, a stranger could probably get a pretty good idea of your likes and dislikes, and maybe even your future plans. Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine employing a similar "peeping Tom" tactic to learn more about how stem cells develop have taken a significant step forward by devising a way to recreate the cells' lair — a microenvironment called a niche — in an adult animal. The research marks the first time that scientists have successfully recreated a functional stem-cell niche for further study.
