If you are still not convinced that stem cells are the future of medicine, listen here: a group of Japanese researchers used stem cells to synthesize a new fully functional organ in the laboratory, starting from ZERO.

This is the research team of the RIKEN Center for developmental biology, which has taken mouse stem cells and transformed them into a perfectly functioning pituitary gland: the pituitary gland, otherwise called the Pituitary gland, is a small organ that is at the base brain and produces hormones that regulate the entire metabolism.

The method used

To obtain this surprising result, the researchers used a 'three-dimensional' culture medium, supplying the cells with growth factors and developmental proteins in different quantities, by trial and error, until they found the right combination to ensure that these combine from sun to become a functioning organ (in the photo the activity of the cells). The pituitary gland was then implanted on a guinea pig with a malfunction of that organ, and it perfectly replaced the original function (notes: for once an experiment ended well for a guinea pig).

Technically, it could be called a 'synthetic' organ: but in reality, what is the difference? It is an organ made up of its own stem cells that works exactly like the original one: the body does not notice any difference. This approach has enormous potential: in the future, every one of our organs he could have always a 'twin' ready to replace it: we have to wait at least a decade, while considering the current pace of research, science will be able to reproduce organs from human stem cells within three or four years.