Stem Cells Simplified – Part 1

What is a stem cell…really? Where do they come from? What do they do? Why the interest in stem cells? Why the controversy over stem cells? Who’s ahead in the stem cell race?

Over the next few weeks we are going to look into the facts we know about stem cells and the world wide interest in them. We’ll start with Rudolf Virchow, who in the 1800s introduced the idea that disease begins inside of cells as he in fact popularized the epigram, Omnis cellula e cellula or “every cell originates from another cell.” Since that time scientists have studied how cells develop into a variety of tissues from brain to muscle and how unlocking this process may be the key to curing all sorts of diseases. Tomorrow’s topic: What is a stem cell?