A new tool for tracing the family trees of cells

EPFL researchers have developed GEMLI, a pioneering tool that could democratize and vastly improve how we study the journey of cells from their embryonic state through to specialized roles in the body, as well as their changes ...

Machine learning model sheds new light on muscle development

Life sciences have never been more digital. To learn more about life processes, biologists are collecting massive quantities of data that computer scientists analyze by means of sophisticated computational models that they ...

Research team creates a chemistry map for human cells

Scientists at NPL worked with Diamond Light Source to publish a study that shows how the chemistry of human cells changes, depending on the structure of their extracellular niche, are major determinants of cell responses ...

With living robots, scientists unlock cells' power to heal

Near the entrance to Michael Levin's lab at Tufts, four deer antlers are mounted on wooden boxes. They represent an incredible feat of regeneration in mammals: Deer shed their antlers annually and regrow the bone, blood vessels, ...

page 1 from 40

Stem cell

Stem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s. The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.

Stem cells can now be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture. Highly plastic adult stem cells from a variety of sources, including umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, are routinely used in medical therapies. Embryonic cell lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA