Autologous stem cells are highly preferred for cellular therapy to treat human diseases. Mitochondria are organelles normally located in cytoplasm as a power house to energize cellular activities. Using the purified mitochondria from human blood platelets, a new study from Dr. Yong Zhao and his team at Center for Discovery and Innovation, Hackensack Meridian Health, demonstrated the differentiation of adult peripheral blood-derived insulin-producing cells (designated PB-IPC) into multipotent stem cells and giving rise to three-germ layer-derived cells after the treatment with platelet-derived mitochondria. The mitochondria-treated PB-IPC exhibited high efficiency of differentiations toward retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and neuronal cells in the presence of different inducers. Thus, these cells offer great promise as a solution for the current bottlenecks associated with conventional stem cell transplants and have tremendous potential for patient benefit in the clinic. This work was published in peer-reviewed journal Cells.