Grown Bone

Strip away an animal or human’s skin, muscles, and sinews, and you’ll see the bony skeleton underneath. Not only do our bones provide a strong three-dimensional scaffold to support the body, they enable us to move, protect our vital organs, and even help to determine the shape of the face thanks to the skull underneath. But scientists studying how bones grow are faced with a problem. Most cells in the lab grow in flat layers in plastic Petri dishes – a very different environment from the three-dimensional structures of a real skeleton. To create a more life-like system, researchers have now figured out how to cultivate bone cells in a 3D setting, like this skull bone cell (known as an osteoblast), artificially coloured red inside a grey-hued supporting matrix. Thanks to this system, the scientists can spy on bone cells as they grow, gaining important insights into how the skeleton forms.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image by Arkhat Abzhanov
• Imperial College London, UK
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Shortlisted image in Imperial Innovations' 'The Art of Research' competition 2016