"It's just really about controlling stem cells, is really what it comes down to," Seguin said. "We're one step closer to being able to use these cells if we're one step closer to being able to control what they can become."

"So we created a new kind of stem cell, limited to making only one cell type," she said. Having accomplished this first step, the next research endeavours will involve determining what other steps are needed to coax the stem cells into begetting specific offspring, as it were, from lung cells to repair the damage of cystic fibrosis to pancreatic cells that could be transplanted into diabetics to provide insulin.