This is a huge story: Scientists in the UK have transformed umbilical cord blood stem cells into a liver. From the story: “As it stands, the mini organ can be used to test new drugs, preventing disasters such as the recent ‘Elephant Man’ drug trial. Using lab-grown liver tissue would also reduce the number of animal experiments.” Eventually, scientists hope to generate this technique into liver therapies—and perhaps even transplants. Wow!
Let’s see if the US media ignore or underplay this. After all, it is an experiment that does not undermine the Bush stem cell funding policy, so it really isn’t news.
