Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues, including brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, ovarian epithelium, and testis. They are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue (called a "stem cell niche"). read more
Pluripotent stem cells -- which have the ability to differentiate into nearly any type of cell in the body -- were induced to become liver endoderm, the germ layer that creates the spongy bulk of liver tissue. Those cells were mixed with mesenchymal stem cells, which produce connective tissue, and a population of stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood that grow into the tissue that lines blood vessels. read more
Hematopoietic stem cells give rise to all the types of blood cells: red blood cells, B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, monocytes, and macrophages. Mesenchymal stem cells have been reported to be present in many tissues. read more
A lab-grown windpipe, created from stem cells that were grown on a scaffold, is the only rudimentary organ to have been successfully transplanted into a patient. Stem cells taken from the patient’s bone marrow were implanted onto a scaffold that was created by striping a donated trachea of its cells. read more