The underlying infrastructural methods and technologies for working with stem cells are consistently improving - which lowers cost, thus allowing more research and development to take place. Here is an example: "researchers have proven that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer. An embryo's cells really can be anything they want to be when they grow up: organs, nerves, skin, bone, any type of human cell. Adult-derived 'induced' stem cells can do this and better. Because the source cells can come from the patient, they are perfectly compatible for medical treatments. ... We turn back the clock, in a way. We're taking a specialized adult cell and genetically reprogramming it, so it behaves like a more primitive cell. ... Before stem cells can be used to make repairs in the body, they must be grown and directed into becoming the desired cell type. Researchers typically use surfaces of animal cells and proteins for stem cell habitats, but these gels are expensive to make, and batches vary depending on the individual animal. ... human cells are often grown over mouse cells, but they can go a little native, beginning to produce some mouse proteins that may invite an attack by a patient's immune system. ... [A] polymer gel created by [researchers] in 2010 avoids these problems because researchers are able to control all of the gel's ingredients and how they combine. ... [Researchers] had shown that these surfaces could grow embryonic stem cells, [but] the polymer surface can also support the growth of the more medically promising induced stem cells, keeping them in their high-potential state. To prove that the cells could transform into different types, the team turned them into fat, cartilage and bone cells. They then tested whether these cells could help the body to make repairs. Specifically, they attempted to repair five-millimeter holes in the skulls of mice. The weak immune systems of the mice didn't attack the human bone cells, allowing the cells to help fill in the hole. After eight weeks, the mice that had received the bone cells had 4.2 times as much new bone, as well as the beginnings of marrow cavities. The team could prove that the extra bone growth came from the added cells because it was human bone."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/uom-sse052312.php

Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm