Pluripotent stem cells

Pluripotent stem cells have the capability to differentiate into any type of tissue, although do not have the capacity to develop into adult or fetal tissues, as they lack the ability to differentiate into extraembryonic tissues, such as the placenta. 

More recently, the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPScell) has been developed, which harnesses the ability to convert normal cells (e.g. skin cell) back to the undifferentiated stem cell state, which gives rise to the programming of cells to differentiate into useful cell types for culture.