Discovery of Stem Cells

Medicine & Pharmacology 1961

Discoverers: James Till, Ernest McCulloch

Overview

First experimental evidence that individual cells in bone marrow can self-renew and differentiate into multiple blood cell types — the defining properties of stem cells.

Significance

Established the stem cell concept, leading to bone marrow transplantation and later to induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology.

Methodology

Radiation experiments in mice showing that single bone marrow cells form visible spleen colonies containing multiple blood cell lineages.

Impact