Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: March 5, 2008
Summary:
Solving a longstanding biological mystery, UCLA stem cell researchers have discovered that blood stem cells — the cells that later differentiate into all the cells in the blood supply — originate and are nurtured in the placenta. The discovery may allow researchers to mimic the specific embryonic microenvironment necessary for the development of blood stem cells in cell cultures and grow them for use in treating diseases like leukemia and aplastic anemia, said Dr. Hanna Mikkola, a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and senior author of the study.
