Kidney grown from stem cells

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have grown a miniature kidney from skin cells derived from stem cells* in its molecular lab . The kidney is not yet ready for human trials.

The discovery may improve treatment of the diseases of kidney in future. It may also lead to many bio-engineered organs.

The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology.

* Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide to produce more stem cells. Eventually, stem cells are capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, or certain other kinds of cells by differentiation.

Dr. Ajay Sati.