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Scientists have created a new technique for the production of human cells:
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute scientists and their collaborators at the University of Cambridge have created a new technique that simplifies the production of human brain and muscle cells - allowing millions of functional cells to be generated in just a few days. The results published today (23 March) in Stem Cell Reports open the door to producing a diversity of new cell types that could not be made before in order to study disease.
[...] In a human, it takes 9-12 months for a single brain cell to develop fully. To create human brain cells, including grey matter (neurons) and white matter (oligodendrocytes) from an induced pluripotent stem cell, it can take between three and twenty weeks using current methods. However, these methods are complex and time-consuming, often producing a mixed population of cells.
The new platform technology, OPTi-OX, optimises the way of switching on genes in human stem cells. Scientists applied OPTi-OX to the production of millions of nearly identical cells in a matter of days. In addition to the neurons, oligodendrocytes, and muscle cells the scientists created in the study, OPTi-OX holds the possibility of generating any cell type at unprecedented purities, in this short timeframe.
To produce the neurons, oligodendrocytes, and muscle cells, scientists altered the DNA in the stem cells. By switching on carefully selected genes, the team "reprogrammed" the stem cells and created a large and nearly pure population of identical cells. The ability to produce as many cells as desired combined with the speed of the development gives an advantage over other methods. The new method opens the door to drug discovery, and potentially therapeutic applications in which large amounts of cells are needed.
Inducible and Deterministic Forward Programming of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Neurons, Skeletal Myocytes, and Oligodendrocytes (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.02.016) (DX)
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday March 27 2017, @04:00PM (2 children)
Could facilitate vat grown meat?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 27 2017, @04:44PM
By the accounts I've seen, lab-grown meat was already under $100/kilo from naive estimates of hundreds of thousands per kilo. And that's still on the research lab scale. Is it believable? Have they factored in the scientists' salaries and the coffee budget? Beats me.
http://www.sciencealert.com/lab-grown-burger-patty-cost-drops-from-325-000-to-12 [sciencealert.com]
But if this technique was already scaling pretty well, this new development could really shake things up. Now you can create the finished product unnaturally fast, far faster than raising an actual cow. More work will need to be done, but billionaires like Bill Gates and Sergey Brin have their eye on this.
http://farmerdave.calgarystampede.com/farmer-dave-answers/beef-cattle.html [calgarystampede.com]
http://www.aussieabattoirs.com/facts/age-slaughtered [aussieabattoirs.com]
http://articles.extension.org/pages/39353/how-long-does-a-cows-pregnancy-last [extension.org]
http://beef.unl.edu/pregnantcows [unl.edu]
14-18 months from birth to slaughter. About 10 months gestation length. So 2 years and up to raise one cow to slaughter. I'm not sure if this cell technique will scale exponentially as you go from 1 week to say, 4 weeks, but if it does, you can see how this would end meat production as we know it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 27 2017, @09:16PM
so SPAM(R) would change from meaning "SPiced hAM" to "Synthentically Produced hAM" ?