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Born on this Day in 1957 Organs Outside
27 March 2017

Organs Outside

The discovery that many tissues in the adult body contain stem cells has excited scientists working in areas from development to neuroscience to cancer. Stem cells can divide to form specialised tissues such as nerve cells or blood vessels. Hans Clevers and his team were the first to show that we have stem cells deep in the folds of our intestines. Clevers showed that these cells are constantly dividing into different types of specialised gut cell. This on-going production makes our guts the fastest growing organ in the body. Clevers is now director of research at the Princess Maxima Center for Paediatric Oncology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His work focuses on using stem cells to grow three-dimensional models of organs, called organoids. Organoids are grown in the laboratory and replicate the structure and function of real organs, allowing scientists to study their biology in great detail outside the human body.

Written by Jake Jacobson

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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