Doctors have always dreamed that the best way to help those patients with serious muscle damage would be to harness the self-regenerating power of muscles in a big way — implanting a muscle and letting it grow. Thanks to research at Duke University, the dream may become a reality. Watch as researchers uses stem cells to grow muscle outside of a body and then transplant it into a mouse.
NGSS Performance Expectation: Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms. HS-LS1-4.
Discussion Questions
Use the web and links below to answer these questions before you watch the video:
- What is cellular differentiation?
- What are the unique characteristics of muscle cells?
- What are satellite muscle cells and how do they work?
- How does the structure of muscle cells influence their function?
- What jobs are available in the field of biomedical engineering?
Watch the video to answer these questions:
- What are the virtues of the small lab-grown muscle?
- What question is the researcher asking by using the mouse?
- How long does the researcher say it will take to be able to implant large muscles?
