Biology 2 - Stem Cells

Stem Cells

• Differntiation is the process by which a cell changes to become speciallised for its job. In most animal cells the ability is lost at an early stage, but plant cells always have this ability.
• Some stem cells are undifferentiated. They can develop into different types of cell depending on what instructions they're given. These cells are called STEM CELLS.
• Stem cells are found in human embryos. 
• Adults also have stem cells, but they're oly found in certain places, like bone marrow. These aren't as versitile as embryonic stem celss - they can't turn into ANY type of cell.

Stem cells may be able to cure diseases

• Medicine already uses adult stem cells to cure disease. For example some people with some blood diesases can be treated by bone marrow transplants.
• Scientists can also extrac stem cells from very…