Therapeutic use of stem cells
Stem cells have already been used therapeutically to repair damaged or diseased organs, for example bone marrow transplants, corneal transplants, and skin grafts for burns.
Stem cells have also been used as model cells to study how diseases develop or for drug testing.
Skin stem cells
Since the 1980s, skin stem cells have been used to grow sheets of new skin for patients with severe burns.
But...
...the newly grown skin has no hair follicles, sweat or oil glands so more research still needs to be done.
Limbal stem cells
Medical research has shown that tissue stem cells taken from a part of the eye called the limbus can be used to repair damage to the cornea, the transparent layer at the front of the eye.
If the cornea is badly damaged, limbal stem cells can be taken from the patient, grown in the lab and then transplanted back on to the patient鈥檚 damaged eye, or eyes, in order to restore sight.
But...
...this can only help patients who have some undamaged limbal cells still present in one of their eyes.