New ways to grow human ‘mini-bones’

Human bones can recover from small fractures, but if the fractures are too large or the regrowth process is unbalanced, as is the case with osteoporosis, treatment is required. To develop treatments, animal experiments are often used, but some treatments developed in this way don’t work in humans. So, Bregje de Wildt for her Ph.D. research has explored ways to grow human “mini-bones” in the lab that could be used to test medicines for treatments, and perhaps in the future, eliminate the need for any animal experimentation when it comes to testing these medicines.