For years, stem cell-based therapies have promised myriad breakthroughs in healthcare—from cancer treatments and re-growing teeth to preventing brain damage and degeneration. While some therapies have met with much more success than others, they all face the same challenge of working with live cells. This work can be tricky. Getting some types of cells can pose ethical issues; a patient’s immune system can attack those cells once they’re used; and stem cells can sometimes go haywire and generate tumors.
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