bone marrow

Researchers in the UK have developed first-of-a-kind bone marrow “organoids” in the lab that bear the key features of the real thing and which the team hopes can lead to a new breed of bespoke treatments for cancer.

Regrowing or replacing bone lost to disease is tricky and often painful. In a new study Australian researchers have found a relatively simple way to induce stem cells to turn into bone cells quickly and efficiently, using high-frequency sound waves.

Scientists looking into the biological mechanisms behind deteriorating bones have made a discovery that could help tackle age-related conditions like osteoporosis, by rejuvenating stem cells that to are central to their healthy maintenance.

A combination of two commonly used drugs may boost the release of stem cells from bone marrow and accelerate the healing of broken bones. The researchers suggest clinical trials could progress rapidly as the drugs have already been shown to be safe.

A patient’s immune system can often react badly to bone marrow transplants. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) may help, but they too can be cleared out by immune cells. Now, a Harvard team has shown that coating MSCs in a thin hydrogel can protect them, making bone marrow transplants more successful.

Scientists report the “functional cure” of an HIV patient for only the second time ever. Known only as “the London patient”, the man received a transplant of bone marrow stem cells from a donor that had a resistance to the virus. The patient has now been in remission for 18 months.

For centuries humans have anecdotally espoused the rejuvenating properties of young blood, however it is only recently that scientists have begun to seriously explore the idea. A new study has homed in on a potential hypothesis revealing young bone marrow transplants improved memory in old mice.

​​Bone marrow tissue functions like a conveyor belt for our bloodstream and scientists have now made a promising advance in the effort to create an artificial version, a tool that could be weaponized in the fight against leukemia and other diseases of the blood. ​

If you wind back the clock on the different cells in our bodies, they’d all start life as one of just a few types of stem cells. Now, researchers have wound back the clock even further, and discovered a new type of dual stem cell that can produce certain tissues with built-in blood vessels.

A team of bioengineers at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has developed a type of artificial bone that may one day allow doctors to conduct bone marrow transplants with fewer side effects.

Until now, blood cell production was ascribed solely to bone marrow, but studies on mice have found that the majority of the body’s platelets are produced in the lungs, as is a backup reservoir of blood stem cells that can step in when those in the bone marrow run dry.

Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering and the University of Pavia (Italy) have developed a three-dimensional tissue made from porous silk, that’s capable of producing platelets for clinical use. The development is expected to have a significant impact on treatment of blood diseases.