A stem cell research team at Columbia University have successfully grown a jawbone using human stem cells. This development could totally alter bone implants and eliminate the very painful process of bone grafts.

The team at Columbia was headed by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, and her researchers replicated a 3-D scaffolding of bones using digital images of an undamaged human jaw bone. Stem cells from human bone marrow or fat were added to the scaffolding in a similarly-shaped bioreactor chamber. The bone replica was fed oxygen, nutrients and growth hormones and then grew in these chambers, responding to signals outside of a human body.