Just Add Water

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Nature is carrying an article on a very interesting direction in stem cell research: dehydrated storage. "Instant" stem cells could one day be used as an advanced form of first aid; just add water for regenerative medicine on the go. That is a long way off, of course, but any technique that eases storage and transport of stem cells will be a great boon to research across the board. This work is an outgrowth of proven dehydration techniques used to dry and store blood cells for transfusion. It is a good sign to see healthy progress in baseline utility technologies for stem cell medicine: better tools mean faster, cheaper, better research.

Link: http://www.nature.com/nsu/031215/031215-11.html