BPoD has moved!

BPoD has recently changed our domain name - we can now be found at bpod.org.uk

Please update your bookmarks!

Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Heart Cell Editing
29 June 2017

Heart Cell Editing

This is a human heart cell, but it doesn’t come from a heart. It was created in a laboratory from an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell. Because heart cells are difficult to obtain, researchers create iPS cells from other adult cell types – such as skin, blood or other easy-to-access tissues – and then direct the iPS cells to become whichever cell type they – in this case heart. By creating such cells from patients with cardiovascular diseases, scientists can examine disease mechanisms without needing actual heart material. Now researchers are taking the method a step further and combining iPS techniques with gene-editing technology – an approach that enables specific genes of interest to be mutated. By using gene editing within iPS cells (to disrupt genes related to heart function), then directing the cells to become heart cells, researchers can observe how specific mutations can send normal heart cell development awry.

Written by Ruth Williams

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.