Stem Cells - New Castle U

[Guest guest]

While a couple of drinks

is said to improve your memory, you still run the risk of

damaging your liver due to excessive drinking (come on, who drinks just one mug

anyway?).

British scientists from New Castle

University developed a technique to create a " mini

liver " the size of one pence piece. The

Lilliputian liver will be further developed to create a full-sized and fully

functioning liver. The mini liver came into existence

when a tissue was created from blood taken from umbilical cords of babies a few

minutes after birth.

At its current stage, the mini liver will be used to

test new drugs and at the same time lower the number of animal experiments. That's hitting two birds with one stone

mini liver.

In the long run, lab-grown livers could be used for liver

transplants - a welcome news to hundreds of Britons who wait in line each year

for a brand-spanking-new liver.

More than the excuse to engage in a drinking spree, the

breakthrough will introduce a way to test new drugs. It

could iron out difficulties before administering new drugs to humans. While UK Transplant welcomes the " Eureka moment " , it still believes that the obvious way for people to

help is by adding their names to the organ donor list.