Scientists at the University of Cambridge working with the Weizmann Institute have created primordial germ cells – cells that will go on to become egg and sperm – using human embryonic stem cells. Although this had already been done using rodent stem cells, the study, published Dec. 24 in the journal Cell, is the first time this has been achieved efficiently using human stem cells.

Researchers report on a revolutionary new procedure that uses 3D printing and the body’s stem cells to regenerate knee meniscus, a tissue lining that acts as a natural cushion between the femur and tibia.

When someone you know is wearing an unfamiliar hat, you might not recognize them. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are using just such a disguise to sneak biomaterials containing peptide signaling molecules into living animals.

Stem cells in early embryos have unlimited potential; they can become any type of cell, and researchers hope to one day harness this rejuvenating power to heal disease and injury. To do so, they must, among other things, figure out how to reliably arrest stem cells in a Peter Pan-like state of indefinite youth and potential. It’s clear the right environment can help accomplish this, acting as a sort of Neverland for stem cells. Only now are scientists beginning to understand how.

Induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) created from adult cells hold promise for therapeutic transplantation, but their potential in this capacity has been limited by failed efforts to maintain such cells in the desirable multi-potent NSC state without continuous expression of the transcription factors used initially to reprogram them. 

For answers, researchers turned to mice, stem cells, and the “tooth fairy”

The joint effort will accelerate the implementation of clinical trials and delivery of stem cell therapies.

New finding could accelerate research to regenerate damaged tissue.

A new study at Wellesley College demonstrates that the immune system can produce cells with stem cell properties.

For years, researchers and patients have hoped that embryonic stem cells (ESCs)—capable of forming nearly any cell type in the body—could provide insight into numerous diseases perhaps even be used to treat them. Yet progress has been hampered by the inability to transfer research and tools from mouse ESC studies to their human counterparts, in part because human ESCs are “primed” and slightly less plastic than the mouse cells.