Source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Date: April 5, 2012
Summary:
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have generated a new type of human stem cell that can develop into numerous types of specialized cells, including functioning pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Called endodermal progenitor (EP) cells, the new cells show two important advantages over embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells: they do not form tumors when transplanted into animals, and they can form functional pancreatic beta cells in the laboratory. The study is published April 6 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
