Stem cells | Health Sciences – University of Minnesota

The mighty stem cell. Perhaps no other scientific frontier is as exciting and full of potential, and researchers from the University of Minnesota are on the forefront of understanding just what might be possible.

Our Stem Cell Institute, founded in 1999, was the first to be established in the United States. Our vision has always been to use stem cell biology to change the practice of medicine through discovery, education, and translation.

We explore the science of stem cell biology with the purposes of responding to the medical needs of today and educating the researchers of tomorrow. In doing so, were expanding the international understanding of whats possible using stem cells, and where the future of stem cell technology may take us.

Our pioneering research with stem cells has already led to new treatments and therapies for blood cancers, kidney diseases, and conditions that benefit from the regeneration of tissue.

Were also developing ways to use stem cells to repair heart muscle damaged by heart attacks, to repair the brain stem, and to fight diabetes through islet cell transplantation. Recently, Lillehei Heart Institute researchers have made incredible progress in combating muscular dystrophy using stem cells programmed to regenerate muscle.

Other recent highlights include the treatment of a rare skin disease using bone marrow and cord blood grafts, new technology for de-cellularizing and re-cellularizing organs, potential use of Natural Killer cells to treat cancer and were progressing in how we enable muscle differentiation from embryonic stem cells

The impact of stem cell research promises to reach far and wide. In fact, weve only just begun to unlock the possibilities.

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Stem cells | Health Sciences - University of Minnesota