Biologists Learned How to Turn Stem Cells into Bone
Using nothing but sound
Hiya!
We live during a time of rapid technological advancement. It wasn’t until I was almost a teenager that my family got a computer, just in time for my teen years to become consumed with AOL chat messaging and MySpace. Instead of iTunes, I sat by the radio for my favorite songs to come on and then rushed to hit “record” on my boom box.
Now, my phone works better than our first family computer ever did, and much of the technology I grew up with is obsolete. If we’ve made such strides in advancing technology for the means of entertainment and convenience, you can bet we’ve come even further when it comes to medicine. Though recently, scientists used some old-school thinking to produce new-age advancements.
The Magic of Stem Cells
I know you know what stem cells are. Still, stem cells are freaking cool, so I want to talk about them. After all, stem cells are teeny-tiny real-life examples of two coveted mythical powers — shapeshifting and self-healing.
Most cells in our bodies simply die off at the end of their lifespan, but stem cells create new cells to replace them.
There are several types of stem cells in adults assigned to specific tissues throughout your body, including your brain, skin, blood, and more. Then there are Pluripotent stem cells which are embryonic and only occur during the very first stages of our development. They become all the different cells we need to form into living beings.
Some researchers believe stem cells can only regenerate or create cells within their domain. For example, according to them, blood stem cells couldn’t create neural brain cells. While other experts argue borders don’t matter, and blood stem cells might be just as capable of creating neural cells if required.
Stem cell research has only been ongoing since the early 1980s, so it’s still pretty new. While many mysteries remain, researchers have already made significant strides in understanding stem cells and potential ways to manipulate them to aid medical advancements from curing cancer to extending human life beyond our limits.
As with any new medical discoveries, the ethics of stem cell use is hotly debated. Especially when it comes to developing drugs and treatments. Considering how much we’ve yet to learn, more research is needed. However, I don’t think anyone will have any ethical qualms about this new research.
New Research
Scientists found an ingenious and ethical way to turn stem cells into bone. Amy Gelmi, a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia, and Leslie Yeo, a chemical engineer also at RMIT, published their revolutionary findings in the journal Small.
They figured out how to use high-frequency sound waves to turn stem cells into bone cells. Granted, they aren’t the first to have the idea. Others have experimented with the concept already with varying degrees of success, but this is where Gelmi and Yeo stand apart.
So far, any success in the field is combated with complicated processes to set up that are challenging to scale, and expensive to manage. Least attractive, they usually require harvesting stem cells from a patient’s bone marrow which is a painful process.
But Yeo and Gelmi advanced beyond each of those conflicts. They used an affordable microchip developed by RMIT to generate high-frequency sound waves of over 10 MHz—far higher than previous research— aimed them at stem cells which were placed in silicon oil and put on a culture plate.
As the result, they turned stem cells into bone cells in less than a week — five days to be exact — after only exposing the cells to the soundwaves for 10 minutes per day. In an article by MIT about their research, Yeo explains,
"We can use the sound waves to apply just the right amount of pressure in the right places to the stem cells, to trigger the change process. Our device is cheap and simple to use, so could easily be upscaled for treating large numbers of cells simultaneously – vital for effective tissue engineering."
The technology they use is low-cost and simpler than previous attempts, producing results far faster than any other attempt. Even more impressive, the researchers found their techniques work with multiple types of stem cells, including ones from fat, which are less painful to extract.
Yeo and Gemli hope their research will someday be used to regenerate bone lost from degenerative diseases and cancer.
Perspective Shift
I don’t know if you know, but ancient humans appear to have a unique understanding of sound. Just consider the engineering of the ancient Greek amphitheater, which allowed even those in the nose-bleed sections to hear performances with excellent clarity. Sound therapy is another remarkable way to harness the power of sound waves and, of course, the magical effects of acoustic levitation.
To me, using high-frequency sound waves to transform stem cells into bone cells is the perfect combination of blending ancient wisdom with modern innovation. We’ve only begun to tap into the power and wonder of Nature. At first glance, sound is just a bi-product of existence and a way to experience the world.
But looking a little deeper, we find sound is a powerful force capable of far more than carrying our voices or the leaves rustling in the wind. This discovery stimulates the imagination for what other hidden abilities Nature holds.
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