Scientists have promised a lot of regenerative medicine will come from stem cells, but so far progress has been fairly slow: they can stimualte regrowth of heart tissue, make incredibly expesnive artifical blood, or—at best—construct a short piece of vein. Now, though, scientists are claiming they can grow functional liver.Nature reports that a team of scientists from Japan has presented its works at a conference, and its incredible. In fact, George Daley, director of the stem-cell transplantation program at the Boston Childrens Hospital in Massachusetts, told Nature that “it blew [his] mind.” Wow.The researchers used stem cells created from human skin cells, then placed the cells on growth plates in a specially designed culture medium. Over the course of nine days, the cells started producing chemicals that a typical liver cell, otherwise known as a hepatocyte, would produce. They then added endothelial and mesenchymal cells—which form parts of blood vessels and other structural tissues within the body—to the mix, in the hope that they would be incorporated and begin to help the cells develop a structure akin to the liver.

via Scientists Can Now Grow Functioning Liver From Stem Cells.