Functioning sperm that could one day be used to treat infertility in men have been created in a laboratory by scientists in China, according to a report in Cell Stem Cell.

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) shows that the act of creating pluripotent stem cells for clinical use is unlikely to pass on cancer-causing mutations to patients.

In what has been hailed a breakthrough in regenerative medicine, scientists have developed functional ear, bone and muscle structures using 3D-bioprinting technology.

An adult kidney has been transplanted into a child with the help of 3D printing techniques, says a report from Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London, UK.

New research shows that by encapsulating them in a new biomaterial, implanted human pancreatic cells can withstand attack by the immune system in mice for up to 6 months, while maintaining their ability to sense low blood sugar and produce insulin in response.

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have successfully converted human skin cells into fully-functional pancreatic cells. The new cells produced insulin in response to changes in glucose levels, and, when transplanted into mice, the cells protected the animals from developing diabetes in a mouse model of the disease.

The possibility of the world’s first human head transplant is very real. In December 2017, Italian neuroscientist Dr. Sergio Canavero plans to perform the procedure alongside a team of Chinese surgeons, led by Dr. Xiaoping Ren – who to date, has performed around 1,000 head transplants on mice.

Electronic mesh has potential to unravel workings of mammalian brain. 

Stem cell therapies are often limited by low survival of transplanted stem cells and the lack of precise control over their differentiation into the terminal cell types needed to repair or replace injured tissues. Now, a team led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member David Mooney, Ph.D., has developed a new strategy – embedding stem cells into porous, transplantable hydrogels – that has experimentally improved bone repair by boosting the survival rate of transplanted stem cells and influencing their cell differentiation.

In a world-first surgery, a Spanish cancer patient has received a 3D printed titanium sternum and rib implant that was designed and manufactured in Melbourne.