The redesigned Science and Technology Gallery at the National Museum of Scotland contains an early example of an engineered kidney produced by Professor Jamie Davies and Dr Melanie Lawrence. Image The exhibit, a mini mouse kidney, was grown from stem cells from a mouse embryo and was made in the Prof Jamie Davies Lab by Prof Jamie Davies and Dr Melanie Lawrence in 2015.Dr Jamie Davies explains how the kidney, and its display in the National Museum of Scotland, came to be.Why did you create the mouse kidney?Our ultimate aim is to build human kidneys from human stem cells (iPS cells) derived from patients who need new kidneys, as an alternative to the long queues for transplants. We began by using mouse cells because we can use foetal mouse tissues for comparison and as controls; the mouse system allowed us to develop the key techniques that we are now starting to apply to human iPS cells.What does it teach us?Above all, it teaches us that when treated properly cells have remarkable powers of self-organization and promoting this may be a much better way to produce complex anatomies than would, say, 3D printing.How did it come to be on display?I was approached Sophie Goggins of the National Museum, who was aware of our work and asked if we could produce a version of our kidneys that was physically stable for display use.Further informationView the catalogue entry hereProf Jamie Davies staff profile The Davies Lab website Publication date 29 Jul, 2016
