A biobank for all, in which a person from any background could find a bone marrow donor for a stem cell transplant, is a major goal for stem cell science. While repositories of cell lines that could be a match for most patients are successfully materializing in some countries with genetically homogenous populations like Japan and the United Kingdom, how many more we need for a universal solution remains unknown. Researchers estimate at least 559 distinct cell lines would be required to cover 95% of the more diverse, and globally representative, people of Brazil.
