Liver Cells Grown From Cord Blood

A team of British scientists from NewCastle University claim to have grown small sections of the liver using stem cells from umbilical cords. In the future these tiny penny sized liver sections are seen as potential treatment options for patients with liver diseases. However, since it would be 10 - 15 years before a full liver would be formed from the cultured cells, more recent plans are to use the sections in potential drug testing and research in replacement of human or animal models. The small liver sections will be grown in the laboratory and sent to pharmaceutical companies for drug testing, thus avoiding risks of allergic reactions in patients recieving newly developed treatments. Even with all the excitement, the team is still awaiting further investigation from the scientific community because prior to this claim there had been no discussion of the research "through the scientific channels, nor had it been peer reviewed". Even with the legal procedures, the validity of the research seems very straightforward and seems to be supported by many of the nations top liver specialists. With the legal issue aside, it is the ethicacy of this research that is gaining support from many scientists. Amazingly the stem cells were collected from the umbilical cord and not from embyos. This has gained alot of attention in the scientific community. Overall, the growth of liver cells seems to be a sucess, and according to the British scientists, in the next decades to come enough testing would be done with the growth of a full liver that liver transplants would be possible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6101420.stm

This article is amazing, it truely shows the extent of our scientific community and where we stand in relation to modern and developing technology. With the pace of new research currently being done, who knows, our nanobots might have a chance of performing tasks that we assign them for our device design. :)
-Maunark Patel