Stem cells are mending bone and repairing muscle thanks to Stanford

Stem cells, with their blank biological maps, have the potential to mend bone, rebuild muscle and repair blood vessels. However, current treatment methods are expensive and many potential applications remain undiscovered.

Scientist from Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a way to guide stem cells into producing one of 12 cells types in the span of only a few days, reports U.S. News & World Report.

"Regenerative medicine relies on the ability to turn pluripotent human stem cells into specialized tissue stem cells that can engraft and function in patients," said study co-senior author Irving Weissman, MD, who directs Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and its Ludwig Cancer Center. "It took us years to be able to isolate blood-forming and brain-forming stem cells. Here we used our knowledge of the developmental biology of many other animal models to provide the positive and negative signaling factors to guide the developmental choices of these tissue and organ stem cells. Within five to nine days we can generate virtually all the pure cell populations that we need.”

Researchers were able to guide the stem cells using both biological and chemical signals to drive the cells to transform into skeletal muscle, bone and blood vessels. This leap in regenerative medicine could lead to scientists being able to repair the heart after a heart attack, produce cartilage to repair joints and mend broken bones.

"Previously, making these cell types took weeks to months, primarily because it wasn't possible to accurately control cell fate," said co-lead author Kyle Loh, a graduate student at Stanford's medical school. "As a result, researchers would end up with a hodgepodge of cell types."