Creating Bone Cells with Sound

Stem cells have the power to turn into any other kind of cell – a ‘superpower’ that some animals can use to grow new limbs. For humans these cells have the potential to help doctors repair parts of the body that have been damaged by injury or disease. This requires the ability to change the stem cells into the type of tissue that is needed. A new study has found an innovative way of doing that by using high frequency sound waves. They were able to turn stem cells into bone cells in just five days, using 10 minutes of stimulating sound treatment each day. This technique has several advantages over the current processes, and could be used to re-grow bone that has been lost to cancer or other types of degenerative disease. Head of the research Amy Gelmi said, "Our study found that this new approach has strong potential for treating stem cells, either before we coat them onto an implant, or when we inject them directly into the body for tissue engineering.”