Cells freshly isolated from a human thymus and stained for epithelial cell markers in different colors (small cells in blue, red and green) and human pancreatic organoids growing in culture (large spheres in the centre). From Paola Bonfanti's Epithelial Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine Laboratory.
Intro
Stem cells produce, maintain and renew all the different cell types and lineages in the growing embryo and in adult organs. Stem cells will be important in regenerative medicine, and are also involved in many cancers.