Human liver grown in laboratory.

Human liver grown in laboratory.

Researchers at Wake Forest University have grown the first human liver in their laboratories.  The researchers started with animal livers and stripped away all the cells, leaving behind only the framework of the organ.  They then added human liver and blood vessel cells.  The small number of human cells was able to re-form a liver-like organ that performs at least some of the functions of a natural liver.  While this research was not designed to study cancer, the potential impact of this kind of work on cancer research and drug development is tremendous.