Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: October 19, 2009
Summary:
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Applying a small mechanical force to embryonic stem cells could be a new way of coaxing them into a specific direction of differentiation, researchers at the University of Illinois report. Applications for force-directed cell differentiation include therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine. Results suggest that small forces may indeed play critical roles in inducing strong biological responses in embryonic stem cells, and in shaping embryos during their early development. The research is published in Nature Materials.
