Researchers from the University of Tokyo have announced they have successfully grown kidneys and pancreas in mice missing the ability to grow their own said organs. According to Japan Today, the researchers injected embryonic stem cells from healthy mice into eggs of genetically engineered mice that do not grow kidneys and pancreases three days after fertilization and implanted the eggs into surrogate mice. The newborn mice turned out to have kidneys and pancreases and the researchers confirmed that they derived from the embryonic stem cells while vascular tracts and nerves were those of the host mice. Both types of organs functioned normally. Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, lead researcher, said a potential application of this technique in the future includes reproducing in reprogrammed swine the pancreas of a diabetic patient using stem cells produced from the patient’s skin tissue.

Embryonic stem cell research has been a very controversial issue. Interesting is the suggestion by Dr. Nakauchi that this technique could be used to take stem cells from a patient’s skin, not embryonic. If this was the case, I would fail to see how this would be an issue with anyone who is an opponent of embryonic stem cell research.