Zombie Watch: Scientists create creepy "living" doll with cancer cells.

The accompanying picture is what it really looks like - no joke. Creepy, no? And is it a good idea to create a doll using cells that want to destroy human life? From The Telegraph:

The 5mm high figure – which bears a passing resemblance to a jelly baby – was created from liver cancer cells held in place with the help of 100,000 capsules of collagen.

Each capsule was also coated with special cells that secreted a protein which helped bind the 3D structure.

The entity's humorous shape was created with a specially-made mould, but scientists at the University of Tokyo say that the technique has serious medical applications.

Shoji Takeuchi, who led the team at the Institute of Industrial Science, says that it will enable researchers to create a range of structures containing multiple cell types, allowing them to test cancer drugs in environments more closely resembling the human body.

The structures will be more useful than cell collections grown in petri dishes that are not so closely bound, he said.

"The mould can be changed into all kinds of shapes and forms," Prof Shoji Takeuchi said.