Stem cells are present in virtually all multicellular biological systems. Simply put, stem cells have the capacity to change into functional tissue cells through a process known as “differentiation”. The best known stem cells are those found in animal embryos (embryonic stem cells), but even after birth, we harbor many other types of adult stem cells in our bodies. These stem cells reside in a structurally and chemically defined microenvironment within tissues and divide without limit under a tightly regulated manner for the duration of life. These so-called “adult or tissue-specific” stem cells are responsible in part for repair and maintenance of our bodies.
As you can imagine, stem cell research is an extraordinarily broad field, encompassing the developmental biology of the embryo, tissue repair and maintenance in the adult organism, and the application of stem cells in clinical therapies (a term often referred to as cytotherapy).
Some aspects of stem cell research are undeniably controversial to some, but the purpose of this section of the web site is to briefly explain the scope of stem cell biology as it relates to embryonic and adult biological systems, and its relevance to clinical application.
Please note that this section is still under construction, so some pages may be missing.
This section covers the following topics:
Introduction | Stem Cell Basics | Plasticity | Stem Cell Niches | Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells | iPS-Derived MSCs | Additional Reading
Contributors: Andrew Haskell, Daniel Tahan, Michael Cesarek, Sujata Dalal, Megan Lopez, Carla Godoy, Dave Gabehart