Stem Cells

In 2022, a Melbourne start-up announced they’d taught neurons in a dish to play Pong. Now, they’re selling a "biological computer" made of thousands of human neurons.

For decades, we've known sunscreen dramatically lowers a person's risk of developing skin cancer, with some of the first evidence coming from (aptly) the Sunshine State. This is how it works.

Scientists report cloning a monkey using a technique that most famously gave us Dolly the sheep in 1996. So what's new about this study, and what does it mean for humans?

Researchers in China have reported the live birth of a monkey chimera using a stem cell technique previously only successful with rats and mice. So what does this mean?

A quarter-century after he lost his daughter to a genetic disorder, Albany man Kriss Lawson's stem cells have helped save another person's life. But Australia is facing a critical shortage of donors.

Australian scientists look to overseas providers of an important but increasingly hard-to-get abattoir by-product.

Professor Kanta Subbarao from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection & Immunity was a part of the research team lead by Professor Jose Polo. She explains how lab grown placenta was used to study if SARS-CoV-2 could infect placenta cells. ( Image courtesy Joseph Chen.)

Reports that scientists are making "synthetic embryos" has revived debate about stem cell research. But what exactly is going on?

Stems cells donated to help save the life of six-year-old Queensland boy Mateoh Eggleton were left on a tarmac in the United States last month. Now, his family have been told they came from an ineligible donor and could make him sick.

Dr Douglas Blackiston describes xenobots as 'computer-designed life forms' and says they could help researchers learn more about various human diseases.

It is one of the lesser known by-products of Australia's cattle industry, but foetal calf blood has seen its value more than double in the past three years.

In February last year, David Coombs was diagnosed with myeloma, a complex blood cancer with no cure. 

Stem cells made the difference for Shelley Garvie, but experts say Australia is a long way behind where it needs to be in finding donors for the treatment and are calling for reform.

Placenta stem cells donated by Brisbane mums are being studied as a potential treatment to reduce brain injury in growth-restricted babies.

Scientists want the rules governing the use of human embryos to change, saying they are stopping potentially life-changing research that could provide insights into what causes miscarriages and congenital anomalies.

A team of Australian scientists have worked out how to 'turn on' a stem cell, and regenerate muscle tissue and heal a wound in a mouse.

The funding will be used in for research into dementia, paediatric cancer and stem cell therapies.

Stem cell transplants are thrown into turmoil when couriers can no longer bring patients donated treatments from overseas. The donor registry is calling on governments to back recruitment of local donors.

An Australian is diagnosed with a blood cancer every 40 minutes and for many, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is their best hope of a cure.

What's driving Australian families overseas to gamble on "magical" stem cell treatments at sky-high prices?