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ChelseaAdult Stem Cell ResearchLeave a Comment

A Finnish man was able to replace his upper jaw thanks to stem cells taken from his own fatty tissue:

In this case they identified and pulled out cells called mesenchymal stem cells — immature cells than can give rise to bone, muscle or blood vessels.

When they had enough cells to work with, they attached them to a scaffold made out of a calcium phosphate biomaterial and then put it inside the patient’s abdomen to grow for nine months. The cells turned into a variety of tissues and even produced blood vessels, the researchers said.

The block was later transplanted into the patient’s head and connected to the skull bone using screws and microsurgery to connect arteries and veins to the vessels of the neck.

The report has been submitted to a medical journal for review. There’s not much more to say except, keep the treatments comin! This stuff is getting harder and harder to ignore. (H/T Wesley Smith)

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