Topic description and stories

Stem cells, the 'building blocks' for every type of cell in the body, have tremendous potential to improve human health.

Hands of an elderly man with walking stick

Clinical trial for new stem cell-based treatment for Parkinson’s disease given go ahead

20 Oct 2022

Cambridge researchers will play a key role in clinical trials of a new treatment that involves transplanting healthy nerve cells into the brains of...

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Sun

Large number of stem cell lines carry significant DNA damage, say researchers

11 Aug 2022

DNA damage caused by factors such as ultraviolet radiation affect nearly three-quarters of all stem cell lines derived from human skin cells, say...

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Mini brain organoids showing cortical-like structures

Lab-grown ‘mini brains’ hint at treatments for neurodegenerative diseases

21 Oct 2021

Cambridge researchers have developed ‘mini brains’ that allow them to study a fatal and untreatable neurological disorder causing paralysis and...

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Heart

Lab-grown beating heart cells identify potential drug to prevent COVID-19-related heart damage

05 Aug 2021

Cambridge scientists have grown beating heart cells in the lab and shown how they are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a study published in...

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Cholangiocyte organoids reconstruct human bile duct

Lab-grown ‘mini-bile ducts’ used to repair human livers in regenerative medicine first

18 Feb 2021

Scientists have used a technique to grow bile duct organoids – often referred to as ‘mini-organs’ – in the lab and shown that these can be used to...

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‘Mini-lungs’ reveal early stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection

23 Oct 2020

‘Mini-lungs’ grown from tissue donated to Cambridge hospitals have provided a team of scientists from South Korea and the UK with important insights...

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Naked mole rat

Secrets of naked mole-rat cancer resistance unearthed

01 Jul 2020

Naked mole-rats can live for an incredibly long time and have an exceptional resistance to cancer thanks to unique conditions in their bodies that...

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Human embryo-like model created from human stem cells

11 Jun 2020

New ‘gastruloid’ model, created from human stem cells, holds huge potential to understand causes of birth defects and improve disease modelling.

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Academy of Medical Sciences

The Academy of Medical Sciences announces new Fellows for 2020

13 May 2020

Six affiliates of the University of Cambridge are among 50 world-leading UK researchers who have been elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the...

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Women in STEM: Oluwaseun Ogundele

27 Feb 2020

Oluwaseun Ogundele is a research assistant in the Hendrich Lab at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. Here, she tells us about her work...

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'Lab in your phone' lets you play the scientific life

25 Feb 2020

A unique, free new game – “part Sims, part Tamagotchi” – lets players inhabit a stem cell researcher as they rise through the ranks: growing cells...

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Aged rat brain stem cells grown on a soft surface (right) show more healthy, vigorous growth than similar aged brain stem cells grown on a stiff surface (left)

Cambridge scientists reverse ageing process in rat brain stem cells

14 Aug 2019

New research reveals how increasing brain stiffness as we age causes brain stem cell dysfunction, and demonstrates new ways to reverse older stem...

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