7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Stem Cells!

1. Does something in your body need fixing? Stem cells are on the job 24/7 – repairing and renewing as needed1– like your very own “home renovation” team. Right now, your body has stem cells that can maintain or repair your blood, heart, bone, skin, muscles, and certain regions of the brain!1,2

2. Not all stem cells are the same. Pluripotent stem cells can develop into any specialized cell type in the body, while multipotent stem cells, like the stem cells found in cord blood or adult tissues like bone marrow, have a more limited potential for the type of specialized cells they can become. All stem cells are of great research interest to scientists and clinicians.

3. All mammals have them!

4. Blood and immune forming stem cells can be used in the treatment of 80 diseases, including various cancers, blood, immune and metabolic disorders such as leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia.3

5. Umbilical cord blood has been shown to have a higher concentration of stem cells than adult bone marrow.

6. 1 million+ stem cell transplants using bone marrow, peripheral blood and cord blood have been performed to date!

7. Using stem cells as the “ink,” researchers are experimenting with 3D printing technology to create skin, bones and organs ­– potentially revolutionizing medicine as we know it.4  

Did you learn some new facts about stem cells or were you a stem cells master? Post a comment below and let us know!

Sources:

1. Stem Cell Basics: Introduction. In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015 [cited Thursday, September 17, 2015] http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics1.aspx

2. Mandal, Ananya (2013). “What Are Stem Cells?” News Medical. http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Stem-Cells.aspx

3. http://www.cordblood.com/benefits-cord-blood/umbilical-cord-stem-cells/stem-cell-treatments

4. Alan Faulkner-Jones, Sebastian Greenhough, Jason A King, John Gardner, Aidan Courtney and Wenmiao Shu (2013). Development of a valve-based cell printer for the formation of human embryonic stem cell spheroid aggregates.  Biofabrication, Volume 5, Number 1, http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1758-5082/5/1/015013/meta;jsessionid=1D28C351A36333731269950D729B2C83.c1 http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/scientists-use-3-d-printer-to-speed-human-embryonic-stem-cell-research/