A Mini-liver (5mm) is made by iPS cell.

Mini-liver

Over one year has passed after Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University was awarded the Nobel Prize. Big expectations of iPS cells is applied to regenerative medicine which is called dream medicine. It is close to practical use now. Professer Yamanaka and Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University supplies iPS cells to over 600 laboratories in Japan and abroad. iPS cells lead investigation of the cuases and mechanisms of disease onset, the discovery of new therapies and the development of new drugs.

Professer Yamanaka said "Six years has passed after the announcement of iPS cells of human. The accomplishment of iPS cells from Japan is far beyond our expectation. Japan is leading the world in regenerative medicine. "

At Laboratory of Professor Hideki Taniguchi of Yokohama City University, they made a 5mm diameter mini-liver with iPS cell technology. If they transplant the mini-liver into mice with sever liver faiure that would have died in one month, the survival rate was going up to 90 percent! It has a complex vascular structure. It is the same function as the real liver and connected to the surrounding blood vessels. 

White: the liver cells, Red: the blood vessel cells, Green: the adhered cells

Professor Taniguchi is a surgeon. He began to research because he wanted to help the patient who couldn't receive transplanted organ and went died. Through trial and error, he mixed the liver cells and the blood vessel cells with the adhered cells by paying attention to the process of a fertilized egg become a person. And then, the cells on the culture fluid solidified naturally and became the three-dimensional structure. He said "I felt the world has changed dramatically.". This mini-liver will be conducted at the bedside 6 years later.

The iPS cells lead to other oppotunities more. I want to tell you about it in the future if I can. I can't take my eyes off iPS!

Thank you so much!