Originally published September 8 2005
Microgravity technology may revolutionize stem cell research, quell debate
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
NASA scientists have developed microgravity technology that will allow them to replicate stem cells from a newborn's blood in large enough quantities that they can regenerate human flesh, and C-Net News reports that the process could offer a viable alternative to controversial embryonic stem cell research.
Separating adult from CBE stem cells, the scientists can extract as many as 10,000 primitive cells from the umbilical cord blood.
The scientists then use a micro-bioreactor to generate millions more, according to Dr. Colin McGuckin, director of the Stem Cell Therapy group at Kingston University.
So far, the scientists have successfully formed liver tissue from the cells, and they're now working to replicate pancreatic and nerve tissue.
"We're merging the two technologies: our stem cells with bioreactor engineering technology," said McGuckin.
"We're helping to keep cells in a small, neat environment that helps them to replicate."
Taken together, the discovery could offer an alternative to controversial embryonic stem cell research, which has touched off an ethical and political debate in the United States.
Synthecon, a NASA spin-off company based in Houston, originally developed the microgravity technology 10 years ago for use aboard the International Space Station to test plant and cancer cells.
The bioreactor is a cell-culture system designed to create a microgravity environment that allows cells to reproduce.
The reactor keeps the cells in the constant process of free floating, McGuckin said, to allow them to reproduce much the way they would in the womb.
When an embryo attaches to the wall of the mother's womb, it is held three-dimensionally without lying flat, he said.
Similarly, the cells couldn't multiply as fast in a two-dimensional environment of a petri dish.
Synthecon has designed tiny bioreactors for stem cell work.
McGuckin said that he and his team use bioreactors up to 40 millimeters long that sit in the palm of the hand.
The team hopes eventually to use one unit of cord blood to replicate tissue for one patient.
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