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Pluripotent human stem cells — whether embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) — can replace cells that have been killed by disease. An example is replacement of myocardial cells that have been killed by infarction. However, using stem cells to create whole organs is a much bigger challenge: A whole organ has many different cell types and requires a vascular and nerve supply to function.
A multicenter team seeded a cylindrical structure with either human embryonic stem cells or human iPSCs and exposed the cells to growth factors that encourage development of intestine. During 35 days, small cylinders of intestinal epithelium and mesenchyme formed. These tiny “human intestinal organoids” (HIOs) were implanted into kidne…