Mouse stem cells were fashioned into a fully functioning pituitary gland for the first time, raising hope that a dozen disorders caused by a defective organ may one day be cured. Scientists in Japan stimulated embryonic stem cells to spur their differentiation into the various tissues that make up the pea-size gland located at the base of the brain. The laboratory- made pituitary was then transplanted into mice without the gland. Their research is published yesterday in the journal Nature.
