Spermatagonial Stem Cells
Stem cells are of great interest to medicine and science because of their potential to develop into any other cell made by the human body.
Sperm are formed in the testicles from spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). We are investigating the relevance of human SSCs for research and therapeutic purposes.
Our research is considering:
- Is it possible to use SSCs to develop new strategies for treating some types of male infertility, such as when a man fails to produce any sperm?
- Do human SSCs have the capacity to develop into the stem cells of other organs like brain, heart and muscle?
We showed recently that SSCs from the testicle of an adult mouse do have the capacity to behave in this way, opening up the possibility that such an approach might be used to generate tissues for regenerative medicine, to study disease and to treat degenerative disease such as heart failure and Parkinson’s disease. We are therefore exploring the possibility that human SSCs can produce the cell types of other organs.
