Just cells

摘要

The development of simulated tissues on chips has been hindered because researchers couldn't grow cells that functioned as they would in the body. That may be changing, says Alan Ezekowitz, an immunologist at Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey. "The birth of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells has provided a biological opportunity to mesh into bioengineering expertise." Such cells could be used without chips, because they can develop into complex tissues on their own. James Wells, a molecular biologist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, this year showed that iPS cells can form hollow clumps called spheroids. These are made of multiple types of cell, including mucin-secreting goblet cells and nutrient-absorbing enterocytes~8. Hans Clevers, a molecular geneticist at the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and his colleagues had previously made similar structures using intestinal stem cells~9.