In the past three decades, the field of regenerative medicine has advanced rapidly, driven by breakthroughs in areas such as cell therapy, in which specific cell types are transferred into a patient to treat or prevent disease, and tissue engineering, which uses various methods to grow or repair damaged human tissues.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be turned into any cell type in the body, are being used to develop potential treatments for conditions such as autoimmune diseases, Parkinson’s disease and heart failure. As highlighted in a feature article, clinical trials using stem-cell transplants to replace the insulin-producing cells that are missing in people with type 1 diabetes have had some success.