Stem Cells in Focus

“It’s like witnessing a funeral,” a spectator whispers as the Tasmanian artist Lucienne Rickard chafes a rubber eraser against a pencil portrait of the swift parrot. This critically endangered bird migrates between southeastern mainland Australia and Tasmania, where it breeds. Rickard has been drawing and then erasing meticulous replicas of extinct and threatened species...

Many incurable health problems are characterized by the death of cells that cannot regenerate or repair themselves upon damage or injury. For example, cardiac muscle cells die in heart attack, nerve cells perish in the brain during a stroke, and insulin-producing cells vanish in diabetes. Unfortunately, these cells are incapable of regeneration, leading to irreversible...

Each year people around the world fall victim to about 1.8 – 2.7 million venomous snake bites. Many of these injuries go untreated due to lack of access to available treatments or health insurance, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths and approximately three times as many permanent disabilities. New therapies are needed to treat snakebite...

The liver, our largest internal organ, plays vital roles in food metabolism, energy storage, and elimination of toxins. Liver disorders kill more than two million people per year, representing a significant global health challenge. In addition, liver failure is the end stage of many life-threatening diseases, such as alcoholic hepatitis, Hepatitis B infection, and liver...

Scientists and medical professionals worldwide are collaborating to discover how to address the coronavirus pandemic and to better understand its effects on the body. It is well known that COVID-19 can devastate the lungs, causing symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, there is mounting...