• Question: Do you use natural parts of the body, such as stem cells, to help in your research?

    Asked by Inkheart to Sophie on 7 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Sophie Cox

      Sophie Cox answered on 7 Mar 2017:

      Hi Inkheart,

      Yes we do use natural parts of the body in a number of ways. Firstly we often test health and diseased tissue to help us understand what properties the materials we develop need to have. Secondly, like you’ve mentioned, we can get cells, including stem cells, from human tissue. This is really relevant for our work as we need to understand how our bodies will respond to the implants we make, particularly if we are trying something new. So often we test out our materials outside of the body with just cells first.

      Hope that answers your question? It sounds like this is an area of engineering you’ve done some research on?

      Sophie

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