Human bones grown from fat in laboratory

Scientists have grown human bone from stem cells in a laboratory.
 
The development opens the way for patients to have broken bones repaired or even replaced with entire new ones grown outside the body from a patient’s own cells.
 
The researchers started with stem cells taken from fat tissue. It took around a month to grow them into sections of fully-formed living human bone up to a couple of inches long.
 
The first trial in patients is on course to be conducted later this year, by an Israeli biotechnology company that has been working with academics on the technology.
 
Professor Avinoam Kadouri, head of the scientific advisory board for Bonus BioGroup, said: "There is a need for artificial bones for injuries and in operations.
 
Scientists have grown human bone from stem cells in a laboratory.
 
The development opens the way for patients to have broken bones repaired or even replaced with entire new ones grown outside the body from a patient’s own cells.
 
The researchers started with stem cells taken from fat tissue. It took around a month to grow them into sections of fully-formed living human bone up to a couple of inches long.
 
The first trial in patients is on course to be conducted later this year, by an Israeli biotechnology company that has been working with academics on the technology.
 
Professor Avinoam Kadouri, head of the scientific advisory board for Bonus BioGroup, said: "There is a need for artificial bones for injuries and in operations.