Growing blood in a dish

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Developing a way to reliably produce hematopoietic stem cells is a bloody tough problem. Unlike most tissues, cells of the hematopoietic system emerge from several embryonic sites and then circulate through the body. This mobility has perplexed researchers, who hope that mimicking the in vivo environment will help them culture these stem cells. Now, two British research teams report in Cell Stem Cell their complementary techniques for isolating these cells. These methods could form the lifeblood of creating easier alternatives to bone marrow transplantation.

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