Stem Cells News and Research

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Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Scientists develop advanced lab-grown kidney organoids for disease research

A team led by USC Stem Cell scientist Zhongwei Li, PhD, has produced some of the most complex and mature lab-grown kidney models to date.

12 May 2026

Intestinal stem cells identified as active defenders against Salmonella infection

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have identified a previously unrecognized defense mechanism in the intestine, showing that intestinal stem cells can actively respond to Salmonella infection and help protect the gut from bacterial invasion.

12 May 2026

Two proteins help maintain stem cells by preventing differentiation

Researchers from The University of Osaka find that the zinc finger proteins RLF and ZFP292 assist in stabilizing the CoREST corepressor complex at gene promoters in embryonic stem cells, preventing differentiation.

12 May 2026

New AI framework predicts how cells make fate decisions

Scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Helmholtz Munich, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Oxford have developed RegVelo - a new AI framework that simultaneously models cellular dynamics and gene regulation, enabling researchers to predict, simulate, and experimentally validate how cells make fate decisions.

11 May 2026

Tumors exploit peripheral nerves to support cancer growth and spread

Tumors do not communicate only with immune cells, blood vessels, and stromal tissue. A growing body of evidence suggests that cancer can also co-opt the nervous system, reshaping the tumor microenvironment in ways that support growth, invasion, immune escape, and therapeutic resistance.

10 May 2026

Advanced 3D heart models could transform cardiovascular drug discovery

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading global health burden, yet many preclinical systems still struggle to predict how candidate drugs will perform in the human heart.

10 May 2026

The power of organoids in speeding up lifesaving drug development

Organoids are miniature tissue or organ models formed by stem cells (including pluripotent stem cells, tissue-specific adult stem cells, etc.) or progenitor cells in an in vitro three-dimensional culture system, which possess structural features and partial functions analogous to their corresponding in vivo organs. In 2009, the Hans Clevers laboratory developed the first intestinal organoid, marking the inception of organoid-based disease modeling.

8 May 2026

New genetic link found for sudden cardiac death in young people

Short QT syndrome is a genetic disease that leads to sudden cardiac death at a young age. Mutations in the SLC4A3 gene, which regulates bicarbonate-chloride exchange, were recently described as a potential cause. An international research team, including a group from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, investigated this possibility.

8 May 2026

Diverse leukemia stem cells may drive AML relapse after therapy

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the HI-STEM* Stem Cell Institute have deciphered a key mechanism that contributes to treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

7 May 2026

A new combined therapy to boost the immune system against cancer

Cancer immunotherapy is built on a simple but powerful idea: the immune system can recognize and destroy cancer cells if it is properly activated. In many patients, however, this response is too weak or too slow to be effective.

7 May 2026

New blood test predicts illness progression and treatment response

Scientists are developing a test which could one day be used to predict how a patient's illness will progress, and even how well they will respond to treatment.

6 May 2026

Genetic background shapes outcomes in chromosome 16 deletion disorders

Individuals that share the same deletion of a portion of chromosome 16 are at risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders, but some experience severe intellectual disability or developmental delay, while others may only exhibit milder psychiatric features like depression or anxiety.

5 May 2026

Non-destructive technique enables repeated transcriptome analysis in living cells

Normally, cells must be lysed for a so-called transcriptome analysis - which reveals which genes are currently being expressed - making repeated measurements on the same cells impossible.

5 May 2026

Scientists find that human embryos are vulnerable to COVID

A University of California, Riverside study reports that cells in the earliest stages of human development could be susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, offering new insight into how the virus interacts with developing human tissues and why that may matter for pregnancy research.

4 May 2026

New genomic study tracks rare blood disease in children

Aplastic anemia is a rare, life-threatening blood disorder where patients are unable to make enough blood cells due to the immune system's attack on blood stem cells. The condition can progress to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and leukemia. A study led by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with multiple collaborating institutions, used state-of-the-art genomic techniques to profile 619 children and adults with aplastic anemia.

4 May 2026

Study shows eIF4G2 gene maintains adult intestinal stem cell identity

Years before he conducted the research that would earn him a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, was a postdoctoral scientist at Gladstone Institutes, studying genes.

30 Apr 2026

Lab-grown skin organoids provide new insights into blood vessel pathology

New research has shown that single blood vessel cells that appear in the earliest stages of lab-grown skin organoids have the ability to form complex microvascular networks that grow and mature over time.

28 Apr 2026

New cord blood approach boosts survival in blood disease patients

A new way of using umbilical cord blood for treating blood diseases could make the treatment more accessible to patients who need a stem cell transplant.

27 Apr 2026

Scientists seek to reverse neurodegeneration by eliminating harmful RNA pollution

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, the Salk Institute and Sanford Burnham Prebys have received a four-year, $13 million award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to investigate how to reverse age-related neurodegeneration by eliminating what the researchers call "RNA pollution" in aging neurons.

27 Apr 2026

Space research accelerates heart disease studies and tissue engineering

By studying and engineering heart tissue in the unique low-gravity environment of space, the laboratory of Arun Sharma, PhD, is uncovering new ways to protect and repair the failing heart.

25 Apr 2026