Stem cells could deliver tumor-busting drugs, repair damaged
brains, and even mend a (literally) broken heart. But first,
scientists must figure out how to get these jacks-of-all-trades
where they’re needed and ensure that they survive long enough to
do their work. Achieving this objective requires being able to
observe the cells after they’re set loose inside a living,
breathing animal. Of course, scientists can make tissue slices
and use histology to look for the cells, but that offers only a
snapshot of one final time point. “If you want to understand
what happens to these stem cells, it’s important to track the
fate of these cells without having to kill the animal,” says
Joseph Wu, a cardiologist at Stanford University School of
Medicine in Palo Alto, California. Stem cell transplants may
settle down, proliferate, and differentiate as desired; they may
form dangerous tumors; or they may simply falter and die.
Researchers are harnessing advanced imaging to look inside their
animals, or even inside patients