where can you find stem cells

[music] stem cells lie at the heart ofregenerative medicine because they have the potentialto replace damaged and defective tissues. at the institute for cell engineering stemcell biology program, we investigate how thesepowerful cells work. and how to better harness themfor therapies and research. >> much of the program'sresearch involves reprogramming

adult cells to become whatare known as induced pluripotent stem cells. like embryonic stem cells,induced pluripotent stem cells can become any othercell type in the body. but they also enable scientiststo get an up close look at diseases, by making stemcells with patients dna, and growing affectedcell types in the lab. in lin zhou chung's laboratory, for example,researchers have been using

human induced pluripotent stemcells, and genome editing, to better study blood diseasessuch as sickle cell anemia. they are also working toefficiently make human blood cells from stem cells, whichcould eliminate blood shortages and the risk of passing diseasefrom donor to recipient. work in elias zambidi'slaboratory centers on the development of the humanvascular system and our blood. his group's goal is to useinduced pluripotent stem cells to treat conditions such asdiabetic retinal disease,

heart disease and stroke,leukemia and other cancers. meanwhile, gabsang lee'sresearch group uses induced pluripotentstem cells from patients to study muscular dystrophiesand nerve damage. they have even bypassedthe stem cell stage. converting skin cells directlyinto other specialized cells in order to recreatedisease in a dish. techniques like this maypave the way to more personalized medicine.

as doctors could potentially tryout treatments on a patient's lab grown cells to seewhether they will work. in hong june son's laboratory,induced pluripotent stem cells are used to studyearly brain development. his team has found that theroots of many mental illnesses may lie in how newbornneurons find their places and form connections. >> through our work withstem cells, we aim to help make the promise of regenerativemedicine a reality.

we invite you to visit ourwebsite to learn more about our research, and available here.