Successful Research with Adult Stem Cells
By Verdell Goulding

Researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University recently demonstrated that animal skin stem cells can be directed to differentiate into a wide variety of cell types other than skin cells- including the type of neural cells potentially needed to replace damaged cells in Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury.

Other researchers have found similar promising results. For instance: bone marrow stem cells have been used to produce kidney and brain cells; skin cells have been made to produce muscle and fat cells; blood cells have been directed to produce liver and heart cells; and even stem cells taken from fat have been converted into muscle, bone, and cartilage.

Similar results have also been demonstrated in humans where, for example, bone marrow stem cells injected near the heart have been induced to switch specializations and repair damage from a previous heart attack.