With six undergraduate colleges and five graduate and professional schools, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) is one of the highest-ranking public research universities in the world, particularly in the sciences. In 2013, Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies ranked UC San Diego as the 15th best research university in the world in its annual list measuring the scientific impact of universities worldwide. The school also holds the distinction of having one of the top stem cell research programs in the world.

Pluripotent stem cells can differentiate (transform) into almost any cell type in the human body, which means they have the ability to grow into almost any tissue. Because of this, these cells hold enormous potential—they could eventually treat or cure many ...