Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The cells that the PurStem project uses are called mesenchymal stem cells. They come mainly from bone marrow. They can be easily grown in the laboratory, so a few cells can be used to create a big collection. They have been shown to produce several different kinds of differentiated cells, including exciting ones like brain cells and liver cells, which are quite different to the bones from which the stem cells come. This ability to produce different types of differentiated cells is called “plasticity”, and is a very important advantage of mesenchymal stem cells.