Are there other uses of stem cells besides using them to treat disease?

Yes, stem cells can be used in various applications other than treating disease. These cells can be utilized to study disease, test drugs for side effects, and discover new drugs. For testing drugs, human stem cells would be produced into tissue-specific cells to test the safety of novel drugs. As an example, nerve cells could be produced to test a new drug for nerve diseases. The goal of the test would be to determine if the novel drug had any harmful or beneficial effects on the cells. Stem cells can also be used for researching the reason for genetic defects in cells. They help to identify the reason for why diseases happen or why specific cells become cancerous. Researchers do this by observing stem cells mature into cells in bones, nerves, heart muscles, and other tissue. Stem cells can be used in vitro for drug discovery. The ability to extract and isolate stem cells from a wide range of tissues and grow them in vitro has been shown to be an effective method for drug/target discovery. Their ability to differentiate into many cell types also plays a significant role in discovering new drugs.