Growing a gut

A new study from The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine has shown for the first time that adult stem cells from the gastrointestinal tract can be cloned and stably propagated in vitro, settling a debate over whether the stem cells exist, and paving the way for easier and more precise modeling of a host of diseases. Now, the team behind that study has spun out MultiClonal Therapeutics Inc. to use the technology for modeling inflammatory diseases of the GI tract and lung.

Frank McKeon, co-founder and CSO of MultiClonal and co-author on the study, told BioCentury that while people have been culturing stem cells from stratified epithelial tissues like skin and mammary glands since the 1970s, stem cells from columnar epithelial tissues have remained elusive. ...