WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, US NAVY, JAKE BERENGUER
Blood samples banked during the course of clinical trials and other research could serve as a valuable source of stem cells, according to a study published yesterday (June 27) in Blood. Researchers at Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a Wisconsin-based biotech founded by stem cell biologist James Thomson, demonstrate a methodology for the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from small samples of stored blood. They also show that those iPSCs can differentiate into tissues of all three germ layers in the body, including heart, neural, and liver cells.
Importantly, the differentiated cells do not carry a genetic modification that is induced when the blood is initially stored. Researchers often use an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to introduce a genetic modification that keeps blood viable through ...
