Embryonic Stem Cells
Cells taken from very young embryos can multiply in a dish without limit and turn into any body tissue; they were first grown from mouse embryos in 1981 and from human embryos in 1998.
Open in the interactive tree →Martin Evans and Matthew Kaufman in Cambridge (July 1981) and Gail Martin in San Francisco (December 1981) grew stem cells from mouse embryos, and Martin gave them the name embryonic stem cells. James Thomson's team at the University of Wisconsin reported the first human lines from blastocysts in Science on 6 November 1998; making them destroyed a human embryo, which caused lasting controversy. These cells became the model of a cell that can become anything, the target that Yamanaka's 2006 reprogramming of adult cells had to match, and a source of cells for lab-grown mini-organs.
Prerequisites
- Cell Culture and HeLa Cells1951Stem cells had to be kept dividing in a dish for years.
- In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)1978Human embryos at the blastocyst stage were available once IVF existed.
Unlocks
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells2006Yamanaka's aim was to make adult cells behave like embryonic stem cells.
- Organoids and Organ-Chips2009–2025Mini-organs are grown from embryonic or induced stem cells.
- Stem-Cell Islets for Type 1 Diabetes2025Vertex's islet cells are grown from embryonic stem cells.