"There is a huge demand for liver transplants but there are never enough organs, and the procedure is not always successful. We're hoping that in the future we can use bone marrow or umbilical cord blood stem cells from matched donors to help treat liver disease and reduce the need for liver transplants."

These are the words of Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University in the USA. There is no wonder he is excited - his team has carried out some research in which they showed that human stem cells which normally produce new blood cells can be persuaded to form liver like cells in the damaged livers of mice.

The stem cells came from bone marrow, and they are also found in umbilical cord blood. Your liver is a vital organ, and it can be damaged by infections and cancer as well as alcohol and drug abuse. This research from America may, in the coming years, lead to a form of stem cell based treatment which will enable damaged livers to be restored to health.

These red blood cells were the first specialised adult cells to be produced from human embryonic stem cells. As research moves on, more and more different types of mature cells are being produced including muscle cells, nerve cells, kidney cells and liver cells.

© University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, reproduced with permission