Search Here

Scottish scientists have developed a way to induce stem cells to growing into bone.

The technique involves “nanokicking” stem cells a thousand times per second using high frequency vibrations.

The researchers claim that the technology not only is less expensive and easier to deploy than the current methods, but it also opens the door to new ways of treating bone conditions like stress fractures, spinal traumas and osteoporosis.

The discovery made by researchers at the Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow was published recently in the journal ACS Nano.

“This [new] method offers a simple way of converting adult stem cells from the bone marrow into bone-making cells on a large scale without the use of cocktails of chemicals or recourse to challenging and complex engineering,” Matt Dalb, co-author of the study, said a statement released earlier this week.

The new technology isolates the mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) – naturally produced by the human body and have the potential to differentiate into a range of specialized cell types such as bone, cartilage, ligament, tendon and muscle – and, by replicating environment cues that occur naturally within the body, grow specialized cells and new tissue in the laboratory.

It’s the scientists’ hope that nanokicking may lead to a decisive change in the way that we grow new bone. Current methods of coaxing stem cells to differentiate are not only highly instable, but also require expensive and highly engineered materials or complex chemical cocktails.

The results of this study is expected to pave the way for future links with rehabilitation engineers in the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit (Southern General Hospital, Glasgow) on their task to optimize whole body vibration therapy starting to be provided to patients with spinal injuries.

"Linking stem cell research with expertise from the field of gravitational wave astronomy, where we have developed instrumentation that can measure length changes almost million times smaller than the diameter of a proton, have enabled this unique research field to emerge,’ said Adam Curtis, cell engineer at the University of Glasgow, co-author of the study which also included the contribution of the astrophysicist Stuart Reid from the University of the West of Scotland's Thin Film Centre to adapt the laser interferometer for the study.