The Change Mariner

Researchers Make Spare Body Parts Using Stem Cells

NBC11.com:

Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago claim to have discovered how to make spare body parts from a person's own stem cells.

Dental researcher Dr. Jeremy Mao set out to make new joints for people who suffer from injury or arthritis to their joints, whether it be in the knees, fingers or even in the jaw.

"About 30 million Americans have TMJ [temporomandibular joint] problems. Some of these folks have severe arthritis of the jaw joint," Mao said.
Now, Mao and fellow researcher Adel Alhadlaq have taken liquid stem cells from bone marrow, and transformed them into the solid joint of a human jaw, complete with a top layer of cartilage. Stem cells are cells that haven't developed into a specific body type yet.

It starts with making a mold of the joint, then the stem cells are mixed with chemicals that cause them to form into bone and cartilage cells. Finally, they're poured into the mold with another chemical that solidifies the cells under ultraviolet light, according to Mao.

Stem cell molding like this has never been done before.

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