How can medicine use stem cells?
Stem cell research began in the 1950's but we are still in the early days of understanding them. Stem cells offer great opportunities to for scientists to learn more about human development and how our cells work. Currently, human stem cells are being used to test new drugs, for example to trial potential anti-tumour drugs for cancer treatment. They can also be used to create cell-based therapies to treat diseases such as diabetes. In the future, we may be able to use stem cells to create replacement cells and tissues to treat heart disease, arthritis and even spinal cord injury.