Ross Marklein, Ph.D., a post-doctoral research fellow at FDA, examines images of stem cells in an FDA laboratory on the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Scientists sporting white coats and safety gloves are working in a bright Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lab on an incredible project. They are part of FDA's MSC Consortium, a large team of FDA scientists studying adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), cells that could eventually be used to repair, replace, restore or regenerate cells in the body, including those needed for heart and bone repair. The scientists' investigational work is unprecedented: Seven labs at FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research formed the consortium to fill in gaps in knowledge about how stem cells function. The research could ultimately be key to the advancement of personalized medicine, the practice in which medical treatment is tailored to the needs of an individual patient. FDA's MSC Consortium is not studying stem cells taken from embryos. The group is currently studying eight unique cell lines, each acquired from commercial sources and sourced to one of eight distinct, adult donors. (Males and females age 22 to 47 donated stem cells from bone marrow.) Release date March 13, 2014.