The use of stem cells in medicine represents a landmark in numerous fields of research worldwide. Stem cells are a promising resource for externally grown tissue replacements and patient-specific treatments. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art applications of stem cells in clinical practice are still limited. In addition, there are several ethical concerns restricting the use of embryonic stem cells both in research and translational applications. In light of this, the discovery of new and easily accessible sources of adult stem cells opens many interesting avenues of research in personalised medicine, especially for the study and cure of degenerative human diseases and for testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness.

To achieve these goals, several alternative sources of adult stem cells have been proposed. For example, recent studies have demonstrated that breast milk contains populations of cells displaying many of the properties typical of stem cells. Similarly, cells with these properties have been isolated from urine, placenta, umbilical cord, and bone marrow.

Besides the treatment of degenerative diseases, it has been proposed that some types of adult stem cells can also be used in testing drugs for safety and quality, though more research is required into the effectiveness of the use of adult stem cells that have been reprogrammed into tissue-specific cells in this regard. For the testing of new drugs to be accurate, the cells must be programmed to acquire properties of the type of cells targeted by the drug. Therefore, increasing knowledge about the characteristics of adult stem cells, including induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), can lay the foundation for both developing and testing novel molecules for innovative target therapies.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Sources of adult stem cells
• New methods for the in vivo detection of adult stem cells
• Characterisation of breastmilk-derived adult stem cells
• Isolation and characterisation of adult stem cells from urine, placenta, umbilical cord, and bone marrow.
• Translational applications of adult stem cells
• New biomarkers for adult stem cells
• Using adult stem cells for the testing of new drugs for safety and effectiveness