Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Spine Fresh
24 May 2018

Spine Fresh

Part of perfecting a replacement is comparing it to the real thing. Scientists examined this slice through the spinal cord of a human foetus to see how their lab-grown organ matched up. Many of the blue-stained cells, such as those highlighted in the white box, contain proteins found in motor neurons (white) and those that help to form connections, or synapses (red) in living spinal tissue. Artificial spinal tissue grown in a lab faithfully mimics features of the real thing – developing from induced pluripotent stem cells it even forms branches out to vascular cells, similar to those that feed blood into the spine. While not intended as a transplant, this organ-on-a-chip makes lab-based investigations into disease and development much easier and closer to real life – and similar technology is being applied to grow useful 'models' of the heart and kidneys and skin.

Written by John Ankers

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

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.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.