Using what they say is a relatively simple method, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have extracted stem/progenitor cells from adult testes and have converted them back into pluripotent embryonic-like stem cells. Researchers say that the naïve cells are now potentially capable of morphing into any cell type that a body needs, from brain neurons to pancreatic tissue.

Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates, and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue. So how do these tissue-specific stem cells restrict their fate?

(March 4, 2009) Mount Sinai Hospital's Dr. Andras Nagy discovered a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. The study, published by Nature, accelerates stem cell technology and provides a road map for new clinical approaches to regenerative medicine.

(March 4, 2009) Adult stem cells and their more committed kin, progenitor cells, are prized by medical researchers for their ability to produce different types of specialized cells. The potential of using these cells to repair or replace damaged tissue holds great promise for cancer therapies and regenerative medicine. However, the question that must first be answered is what determines the ultimate fate of a stem or progenitor cell? A team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab's Mark LaBarge and Mina Bissell appear to be well on the road to finding out.

(March 4, 2009) Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a protein complex important in controlling whether embryonic stem cells retain their ability to become any cell in the body — a quality called pluripotency — or instead embark on a pathway of maturation and specialization. The finding is an important advance in the quest by scientists to harness the unique abilities of embryonic stem cells to treat disease and generate replacement tissue for the body.