There are more than 25,000 genes in the nucleus of every cell in the typical adult human body. The DNA strands of the 10 trillion cells combined would be long enough to extend from the earth to the sun more than 100 times (National Human Genome Research Institute). Yet a single mutation or problem in just one of these genes can cause something as benign as turning brown eyes blue or something as serious as a fatal case of cancer. The science of genetics is precise and complex, but it may very well be the future of human medicine. Stem cell research, genetic counseling, and gene therapy are just some of the most important players in the field of human genome science. Stem cell therapy is the use of pluripotent stem cells in health care to heal organs and tissues. A cell's pluripotency is determined by its ability to differentiate into other cell types, such as cardiac, skeletal, or nervous (Waldron). Scientists and researchers primarily work with the following types of stem cells: embryonic, mesenchymal, and induced pluripotent. The embryo was used in some of the earliest stem cell research because it was readily available. Early research on embryonic stem cells showed that they were not only highly pluripotent, as they had been used experimentally to differentiate into blood, heart and skeletal muscle cells. The differentiation of stem cells into muscle cells was considered an important step because it showed researchers the vast pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Skeletal muscle cells were difficult to obtain in previous experiments and tests because they are more complex and less well understood than cells from simpler tissues, significantly showing the diversity of these stem cells. What...... middle of paper...... February 2, 2014. Web. March 4, 2014. Ormond, D. Ryan, Craig Shannon, Julius Oppenheim, Richard Zeman, Kaushik Das, Raj Murali, and Meena Jhanwar-Uniyal. Stem cell therapy and curcumin synergistically improve recovery after spinal cord injury. PLOS One. PLOS One, February 18, 2014. Web. March 6, 2014.Ormond, Kelly E. “Family History and Risk Assessment.” » National Center for Biotechnology Information. US National Library of Medicine, November 11, 2013. Web. March 9, 2014. Steenhuysen, Julie. “The dawn of the era of genomic medicine, at last.” Medscape MedicalNews. Medscape, March 10, 2014. Web. March 16, 2014. Waldron, Patricia. “Creation of stem cells: removing the obstacles. » Science today. Infobase Learning, Nov. 2013. Internet. March 16, 2014.Zimmerman, Ron. “Genetic code unlocks future of medicine, says Craig Venter.” MedscapeMedical News. Medscape, March 10, 2014. Web. March 16. 2014.