‘Mini-lungs’ created by scientists in Cambridge lab
Friday, 20/03/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
LONDON: Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully created ‘mini-lungs’ using stem cells derived from skin cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, and have shown that these can be used to test potential new drugs for this debilitating lung disease.
The research is one of a number of studies that have used stem cells — the body’s master cells — to grow ‘organoids’, 3D clusters of cells that mimic the behaviour and function of specific organs within the body, a university release said. The results have been published in the journal Stem Cells and Development.
“In a sense, what we’ve created are mini-lungs,” explains Nick Hannan, who led the study.
