What Are Stem Cells?

A widely used definition of a stem cell is “a cell that can divide to give rise to both a new copy of itself and at least one specialized, differentiated, cell type.” Although this broad definition provides a useful framework, much still remains to be discovered about the different types of stem cells, their shared as well as unique properties, and how and for what applications we can use them in research, medical practice, biotechnology, and pharmacology.