A process similar to the one used to manufacture blu-ray discs offers a new way to culture adult stem cells. The discovery could lead to new therapies for conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. When adult stem cells are harvested from a patient, they are cultured in the laboratory to increase the initial yield of cells and create a batch of sufficient volume to kick-start the process of cellular regeneration when they are reintroduced back into the patient. The process of culturing is difficult because of spontaneous stem cell differentiation, where stem cells grown on standard plastic tissue culture surfaces don’t expand to create new stem cells but instead create other cells which are of no use in therapy.
