Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can develop too many different body cell types during early life and growth. For our body, stem cells are like an internal repair system. A stem cell divides and each new cell may remain the same, a stem cell or new cell may become another type of cell with a more specialized function. Examples are a muscle cell, a red blood cell or a brain cell. Stem cells are different and can be distinguished from other types of cells by two important characteristics. The first characteristic is that stem cells are non-specialized cells, capable of restarting or renewing themselves through cell division. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The second characteristic is that stem cells, under certain physiological or experimental conditions, can be transformed into tissue- or organ-specific cells. . Additionally, they are designed to have certain special functions. In the intestine and bone marrow, stem cells are tasked with dividing in order to repair and replace damaged or outdated tissue. However, in the pancreas and heart, stem cells do not divide randomly, but only under specific conditions. Since stem cells have the ability to regenerate, this allows them to treat diseases. Some of the diseases that can be treated with stem cells are diabetes or heart disease. This remains a big question mark for scientists who need to do much more research to find out what exactly is happening and how cells cure these diseases. Current research by scientists is giving us information about how our cells are able to replace old cells with new ones and keep us healthy. To explain the application of stem cells in curing certain diseases, I will use stem cells in leukemia. Leukemia is a kind of blood cancer that also affects the bone marrow and lymphatic system. The blood cells involved in leukemia are, most often, white blood cells. The reason is that white blood cells protect our body against many kinds of infections. The problem for people with leukemia lies in the bone marrow, which produces abnormal amounts of white blood cells that do not function as they are supposed to, leading to disturbances in the body. Leukemia occurs when blood cells contain mutations in their DNA. There are abnormalities that cause cells to grow and divide more quickly and continue life even if normal cells would have died. However, these abnormal cells are clearly not meant to survive, but they do and that is why healthy blood cells take care of the damaged blood cells that cause the symptoms of this disease. Symptoms of leukemia vary and depend on the type of leukemia, but the most common symptoms are: fever or chills, fatigue, weakness, infections, weight loss, but not intentionally, swollen lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen, bleeding easy or bruising, nosebleeds, red spots on the skin that look like chickenpox, sweating and bone pain. The main and most common types of this disease are acute lymphocytic leukemia”.