In a breakthrough, IIT Bombay researchers could ensure that human mesenchymal stem cells could multiply and retain their stemness (stem cell-like nature) for up to 51 days (20 generations) and differentiate into bone, cartilage or fat cells. The trick was to use soft hydrogel plates in place of the usually used plastic plates to culture the stem cells. A huge difference in the doubling time was seen — 512 times more stem cells were obtained when they were cultured on gel than on plastic plates.