Where Are All the Stem Cell Therapies?

Human embryonic stem cells. Nissim Benvenisty, via Wikimedia Commons. Distributed under a CC BY 2.5 license.

Since stem cells give rise to all the different cell types that make up our bodies, they have the potential to repair or replace cells that are missing or dysfunctional in a wide range of diseases and injuries. In recent years, an explosion of clinical trials involving stem cell therapies has inspired hope that such regenerative strategies may soon cure some of our most vexing diseases. Before that hope is realized, we will need a greater understanding of the fundamentals of stem cell biology as well as the specifics of different disease processes.

Read my latest for IEEE Pulse magazine: Stem Cell Update: Where Are We Now?