JAMES KING-HOLMES / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY JAMES KING-HOLMES / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Stem cell research. Cultures of embryonic stem cells in an incubator. Stem cells are the precursor cells from which all the body's specialized cell types develop. It may be possible to implant human stem cells into people to repair or replace diseased tissues or organs. Stem cells can be converted into specialized cells in the laboratory using chemical growth factors. All the cells in young embryos are stem cells. Stem cells are also found in children and adults. The blood stem cells of the bone marrow, for example, form all the types of blood cell. Photographed at the Centre for Genome Research at Edinburgh University, Scotland.
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