Cells of the future: making living tissue from dead bodies

Stem cells play a small role in practical medicine today, but new research by French scientists showing that they can be harvested post-mortem opens up a world of medical possibilities.

At the Pasteur Institute in Paris, a scientist opens a standard kitchen refrigerator and pulls out a clear plastic vial filled with cherry-colored liquid. A small, soft, fleshy lump sits on the bottom. It is a piece of muscle, taken from a deceased 44-year-old Frenchman. The laboratory will use its stem cells to grow a brand new strip of living muscle in the hopes that — one day — post-mortem stem cells can provide sick or injured people with a whole new source of body parts.
The near-miraculous properties of stem cells have intrigued medical researchers for years. With their ability to divide repeatedly and fabricate other cells, they are ideal for reconstructing or repairing tissue. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to any organ, while most adult stem cells are limited to their own origin — neural stem cells make neurons, those from the skin form skin, and so on. Adult stem cells are constantly regenerating our blood and skin, and they also mend tissue that has been damaged by injury or disease.
Now a group of French researchers from the Pasteur Institute have discovered another awe-inspiring property: stem cells can survive without oxygen. This means that even when the body is dead, the stem cells continue living, in a state of reduced metabolism.

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