A new stem cell population, called Synergetic Cell Population has been discovered and cultured under conditions that mimic the natural body environment where they develop into different cell types, such as blood vessel cells, heart muscle cells and even nerves.

Principal author, Dr Yael Porat, Vice-president Research and Development at TheraVitae Ltd (Israel), who directed the research, said:

"The data is promising as it seems that circulating blood has a much wider healing capacity than had previously been thought. Researchers are only just starting to reveal the potential of the blood to generate various functioning cell types."

The ability to obtain this population directly from blood using a simple, painless and rapid isolation process constitutes a major breakthrough in adult stem cell research. The technology has already resulted in a clinical product, VesCellTM that has been approved for use in patients with severe heart disease in Southeast Asia and is soon going to be developed clinically in North America and Europe.

Dr. Valentin Fulga, TheraVitae Ltd's CEO and co- author of the article, added that bringing these results to the scientific community through a peer-reviewed article, was a key step to TheraVitae's strategy of advancing scientific research into adult stem cells and their clinical applications.