Stem Cells...What are They?

What is a Stem Cell?  Every organ and tissue in our body grew out of a cluster of stem cells early in development. A stem cell differs from every other cell in the body in its ability to renew itself. It can divide into many more just like it.  Stem cells can repair and replace tissue in the human body. In other words, stem cells have the power to heal. Think of our skin. The tissue in our skin needs constant renewal that could not take place without stem cells. Or muscle — stem cells in our muscles are what repair damaged tissue when we are injured. Early in life, stem cells have the extraordinary potential to develop into any type of cell in the human body. They start in the embryo as un-programmed cells, then become specialized to create bone, muscle, skin, the heart, the brain, and over 250 other types of specialized cells. In the past 20 years, significant new discoveries have emerged — breakthroughs that the original discoverers of stem cells never dreamed about. Researchers are finding new ways to use stem cells to rebuild tissue in many parts of the body where it has been damaged, such as the eye, the pancreas and the brain. Some revolutionary treatments for blindness, MS, stroke and spinal cord injury are already in early stage clinical trials. Stem cells represent a revolution in health care, but we’re still in the early days. Bone marrow stem cell transplantation has been curing some kinds of cancer for decades, but in other potential areas we’ve barely begun scratching the surface.