stemceller's Journal: Modifying stem cell's surface steers cells where needed

Now it appears that even stem cells can come with GPS. In a groundbreaking study, Robert Sackstein, MD, PhD, and colleagues in the Department of Dermatology at the Biomedical Research Institute at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) harmlessly modified the surface of human mesenchymal stem cells (a type of adult stem cell that is the precursor of bone forming cells called osteoblasts), which directed the cells through the bloodstream into bone, where they matured into new bone cells. These findings will appear in the February print issue of Nature Medicine and on the journal's website January 13.