摘要
幹細胞能夠自我更新並同時產生分化細胞，例如轉變成腦、內臟、骨頭、肌肉等其它類型之細胞。因此，幹細胞的研究與發展已成為當今生物醫學的重點項目之一，範國遍及器官及細胞移植、基因表現研究、新藥物開發等。其中又以人類胚胎幹細胞的研究發展最引人注目與非議，因為一般大眾皆認知胚胎幹細胞的取得需要犧牲一個經過受精及發育中的小生命。事實上，胚胎幹細胞的培養在老鼠身上已有近二十年的歷史，是從事基因轉殖老鼠的起始細胞，而人類胚胎幹細胞的培養卻一直到1998年才成功的在體外進行培養，而挑莉羊複製技術的成功，使利用這兩項技術進行「基因轉通人」或「複製人」的可能性成為當今最熱門的話題。本文將就幹細胞之基礎研究與應用作一介紹，除了就幹細胞作解釋外，也介紹幹細胞的研究應用，例如將幹細胞在體外培養成特定人類器官或細胞後，再將之植回人體內以取代病變的器官或組織。因此，這項研究渴望對糖尿病、帕金森氏症、Alzheimer氏老年癡呆症、中風、脊椎神經損傷、燒燙傷、心臟衰竭、肝硬化等疾病患者帶來新的希望，因為這項技術解決了目前進行器官（包括骨髓）移植所面對的來源短缺與配對問題。
並列摘要
Stem cells are cells capable of self-rep1icating and differentiating into various cell types. The development and application of stem cell technology in biomedicine has thus attracted much attention due to these unique properties. Besides, stem cell technology has shown promising results in assisting organ/tissue transplantation, gene expression, and new drug discovery. Scientists have successfully applied this technique on animals: stem cells cultivated in test tubes or culture dishes are capable of differentiating into various tissues/organs. Furthermore, these in vitro cultivated tissues/organs also function just like their normal counterparts when they are implanted to another animal that lacks such tissues/organs. To date, most scientists have believed that stem cell technology is applicable to human as well. Human tissues/organs cultivated on culture dishes can be used to cure many incurable diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, spinal cord injury, heart failure, and liver malfunction. However, the source of the starting material-the stem cells has always raised many ethical debates, since stem cells are obtained from human embryos. However, scientists have found that these stem cells also present in adult. Though limited processing ability, these adult stem cells have shown their potential in ameliorating the symptoms of some diseases listed above on animals. The aim of this brief review is to out1ine the basic and new frontiers in stem cell research.