National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a biomedical research center that seeks to discover new, effective medical treatments.

Embryonic stem (ES) cell research is vital to the advancement of medicine. ES cells are pluripotent—they can give rise to many human cells—and have many potential medical applications. For instance, isolating pluripotent cells can offer deeper insight into cell processes, cancer, and birth defects. Additionally, pluripotent stem cells have the far-reaching potential to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s and heart disease, that are the result of cellular dysfunction. For example, the stem cells can provide a renewable source of cells and tissues for replacement. Although stem cells have been isolated from adult tissues, these cells...