By stripping a kidney of its cells and repopulating it with new ones, scientists have shown in a rat that a bioengineered kidney can function to some extent like a normal one. The work, published April 14 in Nature Medicine, reveals that the protein scaffold of a kidney provides the architecture and chemical cues that new cells need to adopt the roles of kidney cells.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.