Children can be fed with good food but they will only become productive members of society if they're raised in a rich, nurturing environment. Now scientists have shown that the same is true for stem cells.
Our bodies are made up of hundreds of different types of cells, but stem cells can become all of them. For example, one group - the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) - can give rise to nerve cells, muscle-building cells, and bone-building cells.
Because of this ability, many scientists have lauded stem cell treatments as the next big thing in medicine. Injuries and diseases could be treated by using a patient's own stem cells to grow genetically matching tissues and organ.
Some therapies, such as bone marrow transplants for leukaemia patients, are now in limited use and others are at the experimental stage. But overall, progress has been slow and stem cell research has been ...
