Stem cell factory
Embryonic stem cells - primal, undifferentiated cells which have the unique potential to produce any kind of cell in the body - have been mass produced using bioreactors. A bioreactor is a tissue-growing device, it has a chamber for holding polymer threads on which stem cells grow and another chamber for fluid that delivers chemical messengers (cytokines) to stem cells to keep them undifferentiated. It’s better than a flask because it allows stem cells to grow in three dimensions, as cells normally do inside the body.
Shang-Tian Yang of Ohio State grew mouse embryonic stem cells on strands of polymer threads inside a bioreactor as well as in a flask for comparison. The bioreactor cell growth increased 193-fold in 15 days, with cell density anywhere from 10- to 100-fold higher than for conventional laboratory methods, yielding several hundreds of millions more stem cells. This is good since mouse embryonic stem cells are very similar to human stem cells and because, as Yang remarks: "There’s more of a demand for an unlimited supply of embryonic stem cells." Ain’t that the truth? The people need more stem cells!
The research was reported in San Diego, California at the 2005 national meeting of the American Chemical Society